Ether continues to feel much better than bitcoin, which can be explained by the fact that traders expect a fork of ether when it switches to the new Proof-of-Stake protocol in mid-September of this year. Meanwhile, bitcoin mining difficulty has increased by 9.26% today, as miners in North America have begun to ramp up production after the heat downturn and the start of the cold months. According to the latest data, this was almost the biggest jump in mining complexity since August 2021, when miners began to return to the network after the crypto industry was completely banned in China – for a moment, mining then accounted for up to 44% of the total.

The difficulty of bitcoin mining is adjusted so that the time required to mine a bitcoin block is approximately 10 minutes, depending on the network's computing power. The higher the hashrate, a measure of computing power, the higher the complexity. Similarly, when the hashrate drops, the difficulty level also decreases. So far this year, the highest increase in network complexity was in January - 9.32%.

As noted above, due to another recalculation, the complexity of bitcoin mining increased by 9.26% to 30.97 trillion hashes. Many experts agreed that the surge in hashrate and complexity resulted from more and more new machines being connected to the network ahead of the cold weather. The supply of more efficient equipment, the reduction of summer temperatures in the United States, and the delivery of old–generation machines to regions with low costs - all complicate bitcoin mining.

In July, there was a slight decrease in the network's hashrate, as miners in North America turned off during very hot weather. Mining installations emit heat during operation, and abnormally high temperatures require even greater costs to ensure their cooling.

Some experts in this industry note that we can already observe the beginning of a new seasonal bitcoin mining trend. It is obvious that in the autumn and winter months, bitcoin mining increases when miners begin to return to the network more actively.

As for today's technical picture of bitcoin, buyers managed to return to the $20,000 level yesterday and are now seriously aiming for further recovery to the $20,540 area. Moreover, considering what a bull market we are currently seeing, especially after the pleasant prices after the recent correction, the demand will likely only increase. The bulls' focus is now on the near-term support of $20,540. In the case of a breakout in this area, you can see a spurt up to $21,140. To build a larger upward trend, you must break above the resistance levels of $21,840 and $22,520. If the pressure on bitcoin returns, it is obvious that the bulls will try to protect the support of $20,007. Its breakdown will quickly push the trading instrument back to $19,520 and pave the way for an update of the $19,100 level.

Ether also shot up very strongly after another attempt by bears to take over the market. The immediate target of buyers in the current conditions is the resistance of $ 1,605, which is impossible to get above for two days in a row. Its breakdown will lead to a change in the market direction to an upward one, which will open up the possibility of updating the longer-range target of $1,667 and $1,743. When the pressure on the trading instrument returns, buyers need to position themselves around $1,530 again since only this will allow them to keep the market under their control. A break in this area will push ether back to $1,476 and $1,418.