The second biggest cryptocurrency just popped up to $3,300 and the word on the street is it’s got more juice left for a year-end glow-up.
Ether has outperformed Bitcoin over the past few days, rising almost 40% versus Bitcoin’s 30%. But it needs to rise another 44% to reach its all-time high. For most of this year, Ether’s performance has been… well, not so great compared to Bitcoin, which recorded multiple highs this year, boosted by a Trump-induced frenzy.
Sure, the SEC greenlit Ether ETFs earlier this year, but demand’s been meh – no Bitcoin-level hype from big players. Institutional interest and spot market action are dragging too.
Analysts think that could change, though, with Ether catching a bullish wave as Trump’s pro-crypto vibes pump up prices across the board. It’s showing early signs: Ether ETFs recorded their highest weekly inflows at $155 million last week.
- Trump’s biggest crypto bag is actually Ether at nearly 500 ETH. That’s worth close to $2 million right now. His family’s decentralized borrowing and lending platform, World Liberty Financial, is also built on the Aave and Ethereum blockchains.
- Michigan’s State Retirement System is getting in on the action too, holding 460,000 shares each in Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust and the Ethereum Mini Trust, another sign that adoption is on the rise.
- And finally, the Ethereum Fear and Greed Index is flashing “extreme greed,” meaning investors are all in and ready to buy.
‘Too cheap’
Traders are calling it, too. Venture capitalist Dan Tapiero thinks Ether’s “too cheap,” and says in a post on X that it’s set to “explode” past $4,000, maybe even hit $8,000 next year.
The anonymous crypto trader Rekt Capital, who’s got half a million followers on X, is just as hyped, says Ether could keep climbing without even needing to dip to a lower support level like $2,900.
The recent price jump is a win for the Ethereum Foundation, which recently reported a dip in its mostly ETH-filled treasury. “The EF believes in Ethereum’s potential, and our ETH holdings represent that long-term perspective,” the organization that handles the development of its namesake blockchain, says.
Easy with the changes
Challenges still remain, though. Ethereum’s been making upgrades to its network to make things cheaper and faster as it competes with the likes of Solana, Cardano and others. But all these changes have made Ether volatile, which has translated into less demand, especially from bigger investors, according to asset manager CoinShares.
If Ether wants to reverse insipid demand from institutions, it might need to chill with the protocol changes.
“[I]t will simply not fly in front of the risk committees of professional investment firms,” CoinShares says.
