Fantom Surges 40% as Sonic Upgrade Looms Large
Fantom (FTM), a relatively unknown cryptocurrency, has recently experienced an impressive surge in price. Over the past month, FTM has climbed by 40%, reaching $0.51 on September 16. This significant rebound is striking when compared to major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin dropped 4% in the same period, and Ethereum fell by 12.6%. The total crypto market cap also shrank by 2.5% to $2.02 trillion.
The price pump has made FTM one of the top gainers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. According to 'Mister Crypto', a well-known trader, the surge is due to 'a lot of development behind the scenes'. The upcoming Sonic upgrade, set to launch in late 2024, is likely a key driver of this growth.
The Sonic upgrade promises to supercharge Fantom's network performance, introducing a new Fantom Virtual Machine and optimized consensus mechanism. It will also improve storage efficiency, reducing needs by up to 90%. This will make node operation cheaper and more accessible, and it will be fully compatible with existing Ethereum tools and contracts.
Despite the price increase, Fantom's DeFi ecosystem is still in recovery mode. The total value locked (TVL) stands at $86.5 million, a far cry from its peak of $7.93 billion in March 2022. However, there are signs of life, as TVL has grown by 22% since August 8, and daily active addresses have jumped by 67% this month.
Technically, FTM is trading just below the neckline of an inverse head-and-shoulders formation. A breakout could target $0.81, a 56% upside from current levels.