Key facts: There are developments that expand the possibility of ether ETFs being approved in the United States. One trader called ETH “the star of the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours.” Ether (ETH), native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, had a positive week. If you look at its price in US dollars, the increase in its price during the last 7 days was more than 4%. But the most notable thing is that had an increase close to 7% against bitcoin (BTC), something that has not been seen for a long time. The following graph, provided by TradingView, shows the movement of the ETH-BTC pair during the last week. Each red or green candle represents the movement that ETH-BTC had in 4 hours:
ETH price measured in BTC with 4-hour candles. Source: TradingView. For investors in ETH it may be encouraging to see this behavior. The thing is that ETH, although it had a relatively good performance as an investment in dollars during the last year, was in «free fall» against bitcoin. This can be seen much better in the following chart, also provided by TradingView and with 4-hour candles, but in which a much longer time frame is taken, from December 2023.
ETH price measured in BTC since January 2023. Source: TradingView.
Why is the price of the Ethereum cryptocurrency rising?
The price of ETH is being favored by the expectations for approval of an ether ETF in the United States. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has until May 23 to decide whether or not to approve one of the applications that have been submitted to it for review. So far, the SEC is acting in a similar way to the procedure it followed with bitcoin ETFs at the end of last year and the beginning of 2024. It is delaying (but not rejecting) the ETF applications that several companies have made to it.
Many expect, then, that the regulatory body will end up approving several ETF-based funds at the same time. —just as it did with bitcoin ETFs on January 10—so as not to favor any of them in particular. The enormous capital that could enter ETH if the ETFs for this cryptocurrency were approved makes many anticipate and want to acquire ETH when it is still, in their opinion, cheap. Yesterday, BitcoinDynamic reported a news that reinforces the hopes of Ethereumns. Asset Management Company Franklin Templeton's ETH ETF Listed by DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation). This is a US entity that provides clearing and settlement services for transactions with financial securities. That is, it acts as an intermediary to ensure that financial operations are carried out in the most efficient and secure way.
Listing on the DTCC is a prior step for an ETF to be traded on stock exchanges. after the SEC grants its approval. So, many interpret what happened as a positive sign.
The SEC (photo of its headquarters building) regulates products listed on US stock exchanges – Source: stock.adobe.com
What to expect in the coming weeks with ETH?
Definitely, the news related to ether ETFs will have a great influence on the price of the cryptocurrency created by Vitalik Buterin. Anything that suggests that the SEC will give a positive verdict will boost the price and, on the contrary, anything that suggests that the ETFs will be rejected will cause the price to decrease.
Other ether ETFs will probably enter the DTCC list in the coming days increasing investors' hopes. It is worth clarifying that there have also been many who expressed themselves negatively about the SEC verdict. One of them is the investment fund specialist, Eric Balchunas. He had said at the end of March that, although he would like to see Ethereum cryptocurrency ETFs approved, things «do not look good.» The main reason for pessimism is that The SEC has not met (or at least has not done so publicly) with the companies requesting authorization, to discuss ETFs. Although, perhaps, one reason why this occurs is that several issues have already become clear after the approval and launch of bitcoin ETFs. Issues such as the custody of assets, or the way in which settlements are carried out, are problems that have already been solved and discussed. If the SEC's resolution is positive, we may end up seeing what the investment firm Stony Chambers predicted in December. This company's analysts predicted that ETH would have a rebound against BTC that could last approximately 6 months. In that period it would be more profitable to be positioned in ether than in bitcoin. For now, in words From trader and analyst, Omar García, ETH is “the star of the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours.” According to this specialist, the price movements that ETH had in the week that is ending were «fantastic.» García adds: «the doubt will be the weekly candle that begins on Monday and where it could find support, so the close on Sunday will help us identify it.» The following graph shows the ETH price measured in US dollars. Each red or green candle represents one week:
Price of ether (ETH) measured in US dollars with candles on a weekly basis. Source: TradingView. As can be seen, ETH closed the week at 3,260 so that price will be key and could act as support. That means it would be an area where the cryptocurrency would have a hard time crossing to the downside and could tend to rebound. On the other hand, if it managed to break that mark with sufficient volume (which at the time of this publication, for the reasons mentioned above, seems unlikely), the bullish thesis could be nullified, at least in the short term.
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