While Ethereum (ETH) once again failed to breach the stubborn $4,000 resistance level, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF quietly accumulated over 1 million ETH. This milestone reflects strong institutional demand for Ethereum, even if its price performance in 2024 remains lackluster.
Institutional interest in Ethereum is on the rise
Year-to-date (YTD), Ethereum – the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization – is up 43%, from around $2,280 on January 1 to $3,283 at the time of writing. While this is notable, ETH’s performance was overshadowed by other cryptocurrencies like XRP, Solana (SOL), and SUI, which saw significantly higher gains during the same period.
However, Ethereum has a key advantage over most altcoins: direct access to institutional investors through regulated ETFs, similar to Bitcoin’s position in the market. In a recent job on
Gambardello noted that ETH’s consolidation below its all-time high (ATH), combined with growing institutional interest, sets the stage for a potential altcoin season “like we’ve never seen.” Recent ETH ETF inflows data appears to support this outlook.
According to data According to SoSoValue, US spot ETH ETFs have seen four straight weeks of net inflows, attracting over $2 billion in capital. The total net assets held across all US ETH spot ETFs are $12.15 billion, which equates to almost 3% of Ethereum’s total market cap.
Crypto analysts remain optimistic that Ethereum, the leading smart contract platform, is on its way. track to reach a new ATH. For example, CryptosRus pointed out that historically, Ethereum demonstrated an upward price trend during the first four months of the following year, after the US presidential elections.
The chart below shows that after the 2016 US elections, ETH increased significantly during the first quarter of 2017. A similar trend was seen in 2021 following the 2020 elections, with Ethereum recording four consecutive weeks of gains prices.
From a technical perspective, crypto analyst @CryptoPoseidonn shared an ETH 8-hour chart, suggesting that ETH could bottom around the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA), marked in green. The analyst said:
This is the first pullback since the last significant upward movement, and fear is at fever pitch. I believe this is where we print a higher low. Dips like these are opportunities to increase your one-time exposure.
Is the market correction coming to an end?
The total crypto market cap fell from $3.9 trillion on December 16 to $3.4 trillion at the time of writing, a loss of $500 billion in one week. Data from Coinglass reveals that over $289 million in liquidations took place in the last 24 hours alone.
Despite this slowdown, Pentoshi, seasoned crypto analyst suggested On the 3-day chart, the crash could serve as a retest of the previous ATH crypto market cap recorded in November 2022. If so, this level could serve as a basis for the next upward rally.
However, not all analysts are optimistic in the short term. Renowned crypto entrepreneur Arthur Hayes recently warned of a possible slowdown in the markets around the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. At press time, ETH is trading at $3,283, up 1.2% in the last 24 hours.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from X and TradingView.com
