$7.4 ETC, what are you still waiting for?

First look at the surface: lots of positive news, but the price isn’t rising.

In May, it reached $10, then in early June fell to a low of $6.7-7.2, now hovering around $7.4. Market cap has dropped over 80% from its peak, ranking from Top 30 down to 64—yet the total network hash rate hit a record high. Price down 80%, but miners are still mining like crazy.

First thing: the market has already forgotten about ETC, but smart money hasn’t.

How bad is ETC now? 24-hour trading volume is only $47-50 million, not even a fraction of the hype. No one discusses it on Twitter, no one calls for buy-ins in groups, even KOLs are too lazy to write analysis.

But precisely this “neglect” is the best buy signal.

What is a bottom? It’s when miners are desperately adding machines, retail investors are desperately calling it trash.

Second thing: Olympia upgrade, ETC is changing its core.

The biggest catalyst in 2026—Olympia upgrade, aiming for mainnet activation by the end of the year.

Introducing a fee burn mechanism similar to EIP-1559, ETC is becoming deflationary.

Establishing an on-chain DAO treasury to solve ETC’s decade-long funding issues.

Becoming more compatible with EVM, developers can directly port applications from ETH.

ETC is transforming from “Ethereum’s scapegoat” into “the king of PoW smart contracts.”

Third thing: the fifth halving countdown begins.

ETC uses the “5M20” issuance mechanism—reducing every 5 million blocks, by 20% each time.

The next halving is expected around July-August 2026, with block rewards dropping from 2.048 to 1.6384 ETC.

Halving = supply reduction = increased scarcity.

This narrative has played out four times with Bitcoin, each time preceding a surge.

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Bull-bear showdown, see for yourself

One side:

Total network hash rate hits 72.6 TH/s, a new high

Olympia upgrade has stabilized on testnet, introducing burn + DAO governance

Fifth halving countdown, supply reduced by 20%

Price fell from $10 to $7.4, severely oversold

Market cap at $1.1 billion, any institution could pump it

The other side:

Market is neglected, liquidity is poor

The overall market is still volatile, altcoin season hasn’t arrived

Short-term profit-taking might continue to sell

$8-8.5 is a strong resistance zone

Key level at $7.4, just one catalyst away from explosion

Resistance above: 8.0-8.5 → 9.3 → 10.1 (May high)

Support below: 7.0-7.2 → 6.9 (breakdown accelerates downward)

Short-term traders:

Buy in stages in the $7.0-7.2 range, stop-loss at $6.9. First target to sell half at $8.0-8.5. If it effectively breaks above $8.3-8.5, chase longs with targets of $9-10.

Mid-term players:

Build positions in stages at $7.0-7.5, betting on Olympia upgrade + halving double catalysts, targeting $9-12. Don’t worry about short-term fluctuations; the more nobody wants this consolidation, the more explosive the breakout.

Long-term believers:

DCA below $7. ETC dropped from $293 to $7.4, a 97.5% decline—but with PoW + smart contracts + Olympia upgrade + halving, only one coin has all four narratives simultaneously.

ETC now is like Bitcoin in March 2020—

Everyone thought “this trash is going to zero,” but two years later, it rose 20 times.

When it was $10, you thought it was too high; at $7.4, you didn’t dare buy.

Then when Olympia mainnet launches, halving lands, and the price hits $20—

You’ll say: “I #我的Gate交易时刻 should have bought at $7.”