Optimism (OP), a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, has seen the price of its native token fall by 23% so far in May (as of 16 May, 2023).
The decline comes amid a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin (BTC) struggling for a foothold above $27,000 and Ethereum (ETH) retesting support areas near $1,800.
Sentiment across the broader crypto market continues to lean bearish after last week’s downturn. Optimism price could therefore fluctuate with overall market outlook, particularly as cryptocurrencies are likely to react to macroeconomic news.
But one thing that could aid an uptick in positivity for the altcoin’s price is the upcoming Bedrock upgrade.
On Monday, the L2 platform announced the expected release date for the launch as 6 June 2023. Bedrock is a major upgrade to the Optimism network that will make it faster, cheaper, and more secure. Among the things to come with the Bedrock upgrade are network improvements to the effect of full EVM compatibility, higher scalability and reduced transaction fees.
Looking at OP price, it’s down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours, 23% in the past two weeks and nearly 39% in the past 30 days. As CoinJournal recently highlighted in a price prediction for Optimism, Tron and Stacks, it appears the bears have the upper hand. This outlook remains with the current price at $1.63 being -49% from the all-time high of $3.22 reached on 24 February 2023.
While price reaction to the confirmation wasn’t great, a flip in sentiment over the next two weeks could see OP/USD take a new leg to the upside. Again, a successful upgrade could help boost the price of OP, with Optimism becoming a more attractive option for developers and users and increasing demand for the OP token. OP is currently oversold, but faces key resistances around $1.82 and $2.16. On the downside, especially if the bearish technical picture holds, the token’s price could fall to $1.15 and $0.87.