As the chances for an Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval fade, whales leave the ship and choose other tokens. Ethereum, which was the darling of the altcoin world, is in rough seas.
The value of Ethereum has dropped a lot in the last three days. It lost 7.5% of its value today. On Monday, the coin was worth $3,051. Yesterday, it was only worth $2,999. What made it happen? Major buyers, who are affectionately known as “whales,” have been trading their ETH stocks for other cryptocurrencies. This shows that the market has changed its mind.
An on-chain data researcher named LookOnChain found a whale named Machi Big Brother. He recently traded 661 ETH, which is worth $2.05 million, for 798,157 units of another coin called FRIEND. Another whale sold 384 ETH ($1.2 million) worth of FRIEND, so this isn’t the only one who did this. These kinds of acts show that some investors don’t believe in Ethereum’s future.
Grayscale Withdraws Ethereum ETF
A major crypto asset management company called Grayscale withdrew its application for an Ether futures ETF yesterday, just three weeks before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was supposed to make a decision on it. This made people even more worried about Ethereum’s ETF chances.
The ETH trade community is feeling a lot of fear because Grayscale is pulling back. At the time of writing, Coinglass’s sale chart showed a 17.34% drop in trading volume, which shows that traders are very worried.
The approval of Bitcoin ETF applications in January gave people hope for an Ethereum ETF, but those dreams have since faded. Polymarket did a poll and found that only 7% of people thought that an ETF would be approved by May 31. This made people even less excited about an ETH price rise.
Ash Crypto, a famous and well-known crypto trader and expert, is still full of hope. He believes the cost will go up to $15,000 by the third quarter of the year. Ash Crypto says that a break above the $3,900 support level could lead to a 300% price rise, which is what crypto fans call the start of “altcoin season.”
But Grayscale is going, and major investors are moving their assets around, so the long-awaited altcoin season might have to wait. There will be a lot of attention on May 23 because that’s when the SEC is expected to decide on at least one application for a spot Ether ETF. The Ethereum market will wait for whatever comes next as long as that doesn’t happen.
