Ether Traders Target $3.5K as ETH Jumps on ETF Expectations

• Ethereum broke above $2,700 for the first time since May 2022.
• “The 15% rise in less than nine days suggests impressive buying interest after the bulls reloaded their positions in January,” one analyst said.

The ether ETH$3,445.73 price rose through the $2,700 mark early Thursday for the first time since May 2022 as traders bet on the possibility of a spot ETH exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the U.S., a move that could boost its institutional appeal.

As of Thursday, Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco and Galaxy, and Hashdex, had all submitted applications for an ether ETF. They already offer spot bitcoin BTC$103,360.58 ETFs, which were introduced mid-January. Since then, the funds have accumulated $11 billion worth of BTC and helped propel the price of the largest cryptocurrency through $52,000.

A similar dynamic could drive demand for ETH, market observers say. Another bullish driver is that regulated ether products could also offer yearly rewards of up to 5% as tokens are staked. Bitcoin does not. Such products are already planned for offering in parts of Europe.

ETH rose as much as 7% over 24 hours before retreating. Open interest, or the number of unsettled futures contracts tracking ether prices, has risen to over $9 billion as of Thursday – a nearly 30% rise from the start of February. Bullish bets account for 57% of futures positions in the past 24 hours, Coinalyze data shows.

Traders say ether could be headed back to its 2022 highs in the coming months. The token’s lifetime peak was nearly $5,000 in November 2021.

“Possibly as part of a new wave of growth, ETH could quickly find itself approaching $3500 - returning to the April 2022 peak,” Alex Kuptsikevich, a FxPro senior market analyst, said in an email to CoinDesk.

“The 15% rise in less than nine days suggests impressive buying interest after the bulls reloaded their positions in January,” he said.