Ether (ETH) Drops Below $3,500 as Spot Ether ETFs Await Approval
Ether (ETH) has dropped below $3,500 despite Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas estimating that spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) might launch on July 2.
ETH has fallen by around 1.5% in the last 24 hours, trading at $3,496 as of 06:06 EST.
Ether Drops Below $3,500
The recent dip in ETH’s price below $3,500 coincides with a 30% rise in trading volumes, hinting towards selling activity.
Data shows that $11 million worth of longs have been liquidated following the recent price dip. Ethereum’s open interest has also hit $15 billion.
A high open interest indicates that many options contracts are still open. As such, market participants watch ETH’s price closely, pointing towards speculative trading activity.
ETH could continue seeing volatile price movements in the weeks leading up to the ETF launch. While some speculate that ETH could mimic Bitcoin’s price rally following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, others are less optimistic.
Earlier this month, analysts noted that ETH ETFs would attract only $1 billion to $3 billion in inflows, a mere fraction of Bitcoin’s $15 billion.
Spot Ether ETFs Might Launch In Two Weeks
In a post, Balchunas noted that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was engaging with the ETH ETF applicants on the final approval process for ETH ETFs.
The analyst said the SEC sent comments on the S-1 registration statements to the eight Ether ETF applicants last week. The commission expects the issuers to respond to the comments within a week, bringing the possible launch date to July 2.
“Hearing the Staff sent issuers comments on S-1s today, and they’re pretty light, nothing major, asking for them back in a week. Decent chance they work to declare them effective the next week and get it off their plate before holiday weekend,” the analyst said.
He further noted that if his estimates are correct and the ETFs get the final approval on July 2, they will likely start trading on July 3.
SEC Chair’s Remarks
Balchunas’ prediction comes days after the SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, noted that the S-1 approvals will happen “over the course of this summer.”
While appearing at a US Senate hearing on SEC budgets last week, Gensler noted that the individual issuers were working through the registration statements. Gensler was responding to a Senator who questioned the delayed launch.
On May 23, the SEC approved eight Ethereum ETF 19b-4 filings by BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck.
