Ethereum traded higher than $ 4,000 last Friday, thanks to a month-long surge brought by the recent upgrade and increasing demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Specifically, it rose to $ 4,027 before cutting profits. And on Sunday it traded at $ 3,914, which was the rate hit last May. All in all the second largest cryptocurrency gained more than 50% since late July, and the recent upgrade early last month reduced supply growth.

Fundstrat said: "Since the upgrade of EIP-1559 a month ago, more than $ 180,000 of ETH (equivalent to more than $ 700 million at current market prices) has been burned, creating continued disinflationary pressure on Ethereum supply."

Ethereum also thrived thanks to continued interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs. In particular, NFTs rose, with sales in the large OpenSea market growing more than 10 times in August.

Martha Reyes, head of research in Bequant, said the breakout lasted overnight, reaching the level seen last May. The trend cascaded to Cardano, Ripple and Polkadot.

As for Bitcoin, it was not faring well, but its recent movement was a success of its own since it broke above $ 50,000. It has been hovering around this area after spending more than a week below the round level.

Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo, said he expects Bitcoin to take another leap to $ 60,000 and test April highs. But to do this, the cryptocurrency should close above $ 50,000 and gain a foothold higher. Such will allay concerns that there is a double top and potential return to $ 30,000.