• Lido DAO utility and governance token (LDO) has been trading with an upside bias in recent days, lifted by the broader cryptocurrency market rally.
• Traders have attributed optimism about the upcoming Ethereum upgrade, called „Shanghai“, as boosting LDO as it will allow staked ETH withdrawals.
• LDO appears to be forming a bullish ascending triangle pattern, which suggests that a breakout above $2.60 could lead to further gains.

The Lido DAO utility and governance token (LDO) has been rallying in recent days, buoyed by the broader cryptocurrency market rally that has seen the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum rocket to multi-week highs above the $20,000 and $1,500 levels respectively over the weekend. LDO/USD was last changing hands close to $2.20 per token, up close to 2.0% on the day, according to Trading View citing Binance exchange data. That’s below earlier session highs near $2.50 and last week’s highs just above $2.60, but leaves the crypto token still up around 130% on the month.

The primary driver behind the recent surge in LDO prices appears to be the optimism about the upcoming Ethereum upgrade, called „Shanghai“. This upgrade will, for the first time since ETH owners started staking their crypto back in 2020, allow staked ETH withdrawals. This means that protocols like Lido, which is a staked ETH liquidity provider, stand to benefit from more flexible ETH staking, as this flexibility will attract more ETH owners to staking and related protocols.

From a technical perspective, LDO appears to be forming a bullish ascending triangle pattern, which suggests that a breakout above $2.60 could lead to further gains. Indeed, the fact that LDO, which is trading well above all of its major moving averages, was able to find strong support recently at the early November highs in the $1.85 area, is a positive sign for the crypto token’s near-term outlook.

In addition, the MACD indicator has recently crossed into positive territory, while the RSI is currently hovering near the 70 level, both of which suggest that the LDO bulls are in control. Therefore, traders should watch the $2.60 level closely, as a break and close above this level could lead to a further rally in LDO prices. On the downside, the $1.85 area should provide support in case of an unexpected pullback.