Ether (ETH) price gained 13.5% between Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, breaking above $2,650 for the first time since May 2022. The pivotal factor for the rally has been the spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund approval, although the leading cryptocurrency traded down 2% in the same period. Investors now question if Ether has what it takes to sustain the current $322 billion market capitalization.
Ether/USD vs. BTC/USD, SOL/USD, and BNB/USD. Source: TradingView
In the past 60 days, Ether price has gained 27%, outpacing Bitcoin’s 24% positive move in the same period – quite a feat considering that the spot BTC approval was expected to catapult its price as it opens room for a whole new set of clients who could not acquire cryptocurrency directly. Furthermore, Bloomberg ETF analysts hold 70% odds of an Ethereum ETF approval by May, as opposed to their 95% chances for Bitcoin.
BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, VanEck, and other asset managers expect the final U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deadline on the spot Ethereum ETF decision by May 23, but given that Bitcoin already paved the way, some analysts believe the final answer might come sooner than anticipated. For instance, the SEC has intermediary deadlines in late January for some of the applicants.
Ethereum competitors have lost momentum
Given that Bitcoin’s spot ETF approval had a dismal price impact, one should conclude that Ether’s bullish momentum has been driven by other factors. For starters, Ethereum’s direct competitors faced a correction after expressive rallies. BNB token (BNB) declined 2% in the 7 days until Jan. 12, while Solana (SOL) dropped 3% in the same period.
In SOL’s case, the bullish momentum faded after the extremely successful SPL token airdrops, including JITO, BONK and WIF, faced 40% and higher price corrections. Moreover, much of the decentralized applications (DApps) activity gain seemed to be concentrated on a handful of projects that had imminent token launches, which also faded after the respective snapshots. Consequently, investors’ appetite for Solana’s SOL token started to diminish.
BNB faced impressive and…
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