As the SEC announced the approval of all Spot Bitcoin ETFs, $BTC remained flat. On the other hand, ethereum (ETH) set off like a rocket ship, gaining more than 10% on the day.
A puzzling outcome
For the casual onlooker observing the crypto market on Wednesday, it could have been rather confusing. A Spot Bitcoin ETF was announced, and $BTC did nothing. A Spot Ethereum ETF might have been announced instead, because $ETH sped skywards directly the news came out.
After Tuesday’s shenanigans, when the SEC X account was compromised and a false approval was announced, $BTC did shoot up to $48,000 before just as quickly plunging back down - a $3,300 move in under an hour.
With the market manipulators now caught out, and their plans laid bare as to how they were going to react to a real approval announcement, when Wednesday’s real news drop did come, $BTC hardly blinked, and the forward looking market instead chose to throw its weight behind ethereum.
$BTC has run its course
From a practical perspective, $BTC would now appear to have run its course, at least for the time being. In just over a year, $BTC has gone from $16,500 to $48,000 - almost a 3x. Having just tagged the 0.618 fibonacci level, and come up against major resistance, plus a trend line that stretches all the way back to mid 2019, it could be time for bitcoin to make that dreaded but oh so healthy correction.
Ethereum’s time has come
By contrast, the ethereum price has lagged, not only against bitcoin, but also against many of the fundamentally sound altcoins. Over the same time period as for $BTC, $ETH has increased a very respectable 119%. However, as just mentioned, this is a fair bit less than $BTC.
Source: Trading View
Therefore, given that $ETH plays such an important role in the crypto ecosystem, it is high time that price reflected its potential. On that note, Wednesday’s large green candle took $ETH out of the upward sloping channel it has been inside of since June 2022.
A weekly close above the upper trend line, together with the resistance, would turn that resistance into support and could lead to $ETH being able to move upwards with all this strong price structure underneath it.
Bull flag on the hourly time frame
Source: Trading View
Zooming into the very short time frame of the hourly, $ETH has formed a flag. A continuation of the upward price movement would be more likely than not from such a bullish pattern. A measured move from this flag could take $ETH to just short of $3,000.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
