Ethereum (ETH) has been a consistent laggard this year, failing to catch up with other major cryptocurrencies. but, If history is any guidemay finally shine in 2022.

The altcoin tends to post big gains during the year immediately after the Bitcoin halving every four years.

For example, this was the case in the first quarter of 2021. After performing poorly against Bitcoin in late 2020, ETH ended up rising more than 300% in just three months, leaving Bitcoin in the dust.

The altcoin also surged more than 900% in early 2017, rising to $80.

Overall, ether's average returns in the first quarter are around 93%. It tends to be the most successful quarter for the leading altcoin by a large margin.

However, it is worth noting that Ethereum has been benefiting from the growing excitement surrounding its decentralized finance ecosystem, as well as the non-fungible token (NFT) sector.

In early 2017, the altcoin began to rise due to the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) craze.

However, there is no clear bullish catalyst that could push the price of Ethereum (ETH) significantly higher this time.

Therefore, it is not clear whether the altcoin will be able to follow the same bullish pattern.

This year has been very disappointing for Ethereum (ETH) bulls, with the ETH/BTC pair losing as much as 35%. like Reported by U. TodayCryptocurrency millionaire James Fickle lost tens of millions of dollars after betting on Ethereum beating the largest cryptocurrency.

It remains to be seen whether Ether will be able to turn things around next year.