The Ethereum network experienced its most affordable day in over half a year, with gas fees dropping to their lowest levels in six months. This occurred even as the price of Ether saw a slight rally over the weekend, leading analysts at crypto analytics platform Santiment to suggest that an impending altcoin rally might be on the horizon.

According to Santiment's April 28 post on X, the average fee for an Ethereum transaction dipped to as low as $1.12. Santiment noted that traders often transition between optimistic and pessimistic sentiment cycles, as reflected in transaction fees. This movement in fees could indicate a potential altcoin rally happening "sooner than many may expect."

Gas fees on the Ethereum network soared to an eight-month peak in February during heightened interest in the experimental ERC-404 token standard. Now, with fees hitting a low point, Santiment believes this could signal an upcoming increase in Ethereum network activity and potentially mark the beginning of an altcoin surge.

Despite recent market retracement, Ether's price saw a 4.3% increase in the past week, as per CoinGecko data. Additionally, tokens native to Ethereum layer-2 networks like Optimism, Arbitrum, and Polygon were among the top-performing assets in the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap on April 27.

Meanwhile, reduced activity on the Ethereum network has led to a surge in its circulating supply over the last month. In the past 30 days, more new ETH has been issued than burned, resulting in a net supply increase. However, this stands in contrast to the previous five months, which saw a steady decrease in supply. Despite the recent uptick in ETH inflation, a significant amount has been burned since the network's transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, known as the Merge, in September 2022.