Ethereum's ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has declined 1.25% over the past 24 hours. ETH has dropped from $1,894 down to $1,871 at the time of writing. The market cap now stands at $227.98 billion.

Let's analyze the critical factors behind this latest ETH price movement:

Bearish Momentum Building in the Short Term

ETH has already lost 1.42% against the dollar in just the past hour, signaling growing downward momentum in the short-term.

Breakdown From Local Highs

Just three days ago, ETH reached a local peak of $1,978 on July 20th. Since then, ETH has slid 5.45% over this period, creating a pattern of lower highs and lower lows on the intraday charts.

Slicing Through the 50-Day MA

Yesterday, ETH closed below the 50-day moving average, which was around $1,915. Today, ETH has declined further below this key bull market support level. This signals an end to the short-term uptrend.

Month-Long Uptrend Still Intact

Zooming out to the monthly view, ETH remains up 3.13% for the month of July. The longer-term uptrend that has been in place since June remains intact. For this bull trend to invalidate, ETH would likely need to close below $1,730.

Opinion: Relief Bounce Likely Near Support

In my view, this latest down move looks overextended in the short-term and could see a bounce near $1,800 support. ETH remains in a longer-term uptrend, so bulls will likely buy the dip. A relief rally back up to $1,950 looks likely.

However, if ETH loses $1,800, it could trigger steeper losses down to $1,730 and beyond. Traders should watch these levels closely.

Is Ethereum's Move to Proof-of-Stake a Positive Long-Term?

Ethereum's upcoming transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake has sparked much debate on its long-term ramifications. Here are two perspectives to consider:

On the positive side, PoS will drastically improve Ethereum's scalability and energy efficiency. This supports ETH's value proposition as a sustainable blockchain for Web3 development. The lower mining rewards post-merge could also have a deflationary impact on ETH's circulating supply over time, adding upwards pricing pressure.

However, critics argue PoS comes with centralization risks, and staking locks up ETH supply reducing liquidity. There are also uncertainties around how smoothly the transition will execute.

Overall, if the merge rollout succeeds, it seems largely positive for Ethereum long-term by enhancing usability. But the pivot to PoS does not come without risks either.

How Worried Should ETH Investors Be About Competition?

As Ethereum gas fees and congestion issues persist, some users have migrated to competing Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions. Should ETH investors be concerned?

While Ethereum is still dominant, blockchains like Avalanche, Solana and Polygon are gaining traction and eroding Ethereum's market share. This is a risk factor.

However, Ethereum has a massive developer ecosystem advantage. Most DeFi and NFT projects are still built for Ethereum first. And upcoming upgrades like sharding will drastically expand Ethereum's throughput.

Overall, competition is a threat ETH cannot ignore. But Ethereum maintains certain network effects that are hard for rivals to replicate quickly. As long as Ethereum continues executing on its roadmap, its long-term prospects still look strong.