Ether dropped on Thursday but continued this week's trend of outperforming bitcoin.

The second largest cryptocurrency was recently holding steady a few dollars shy of the $1,900 perch it assumed Wednesday, down 1% over the past 24 hours, but up more than 5% from the start of the week when it was lingering below $1,800.

Investors seem increasingly enamored by the Shanghai hard fork, which is slated to occur on April 12. The upgrade, also called Shapella, will mark the completion of Ethereum’s full transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network and enable staked ETH withdrawals.

"This hard fork will allow people to withdraw from their validator balance into their Ethereum balance, which is great for increased liquidity across the market and accessibility for those that trade in staked ether," Victoria Bills, chief investment strategist at financial services firm Banrion Capital Management, told CoinDesk TV's First Mover program. "And one thing that we can probably expect from that is an increase in activity across the chain when it comes to Ethereum."

To be sure, some ether observers say the impending unlocking of ETH deposited in the network to boost security in return for rewards will spur a rush of token liquidations. But others maintain that the event could prove bullish for ether because staking and capturing yields directly from the blockchain will become more accessible.

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"This is an amazing opportunity for ether and even has shown for its year-to-date high up," Bills said. "As it continues to become more of liquid and more accessible, we'll probably be seeing a lot more of that asset being traded."