IOTA's Price Rebounds Ahead of Rebased Upgrade

IOTA's price has shown signs of stabilizing, hinting at a potential rebound ahead of the upcoming Rebased protocol upgrade. The cryptocurrency rose to an intraday high of $0.3195 on Thursday, gaining about 13% from its lowest level this week. This rebound coincided with a broader cryptocurrency rally, as Bitcoin (BTC) surged above $106,000. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies increased nearly 4% to $3.60 trillion on Thursday. Cryptocurrencies often exhibit high correlation, contributing to IOTA's recent gains.

The next big catalyst for IOTA will be the upcoming Rebased mainnet launch, which will help the cryptocurrency compete with other leading chains like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX). Rebased is currently in its testnet phase, with top validators including Ankr, Nansen, Hashkey, and Twinstake. While the exact date for the mainnet launch has not been announced, developers have hinted that it is expected in the first quarter of the year. With January now over, February or March remain the likely months for its rollout.

The upgrade will introduce several new features to the IOTA ecosystem, including greater decentralization, Move Virtual Machine, Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility, and faster transaction speeds of up to 50,000 transactions per second. Most notably for IOTA holders, the update will enable staking with annual rewards ranging between 10% and 15%. Rebased has the potential to expand IOTA's reach, making it as competitive as other blockchain networks such as Sui, Base, Arbitrum, and Solana. As a result, there is a strong likelihood that IOTA's price will rebound ahead of the mainnet launch.

The daily chart indicates that IOTA may have bottomed at the key support level of $0.2760, which it has held since December. The price action has formed a double-bottom pattern, a widely recognized bullish reversal formation, with a neckline at $0.4256. Additionally, IOTA has moved above the 100-day exponential moving average, signaling that bullish momentum remains intact. The token is also hovering just below the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement