Ethereum breaks through $2,400, and this bull market cycle may reach $27,000

As developers finally successfully launched the Dencun upgrade on the Holesky testnet, Ethereum made significant progress on its 2024 roadmap. In addition, asset management companies Ark Invest and 21Shares submitted revised versions of the spot Ethereum ETF filing documents. The double positives pushed ETH to jump above $2,400, a two-week high.

The impact of speculation surrounding an Ethereum spot ETF on Ethereum prices

An updated S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) on Wednesday showed that the ETF is looking to implement a cash creation and redemption mechanism, with Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noting in a post on X : “It looks like they updated to cash-only creation and a few other things to bring it in line with the recently approved spot BTC ETF prospectus.”

The revised document also adds content about the possibility of staking Ethereum through "one or more trusted third-party staking providers," which opens up the possibility for the ETF to lock up some of its assets and earn rewards.

Within an hour of the announcement, ETH prices rose nearly 2%, surpassing $2,400 for the first time since January 22, outperforming BTC, which rose 0.4% during the same period.

High-ranking industry figures such as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink also believe in the potential of an Ethereum ETF. “As I said, these are just the building blocks of tokenization,” he said in an interview with CNBC in January.

If the spot Ethereum ETF goes well, it will further boost its price. Two years after the first Bitcoin futures ETF was approved in 2021, the Ethereum futures ETF was approved in the United States in 2023. Fast forward to 2024, there are already 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs listed.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas pointed out that the most noteworthy date is May 23, which is the deadline for VanEck's Ethereum ETF proposal. However, since the definition of whether Ethereum is a security has not yet been officially stamped, the wait may be longer than many people expect.

Ethereum could reach $27,000 in this bull cycle

Ethereum community member and investor Ryan Berckmans predicts that at the top of the current bull cycle, the Ethereum price could reach $27,000.

“My personal prediction is that in 18 to 30 months, the price per ether will be $12,000 to $27,000,” he said in a recent interview with Cointelegraph .

Berckmans pointed out that as one of the main catalysts for the appreciation of ETH, miners no longer have selling pressure. This pressure disappeared after Ethereum switched from the proof-of-work mechanism to the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism through the Merge upgrade in September 2022. The current bull cycle is Ethereum’s first bull cycle since its transition to the proof-of-stake system.

Berckmans expressed optimism about the current market conditions, emphasizing that the ratio of Ethereum to Bitcoin is at a historical low and there is huge growth potential. He pointed out that with the continuous rise of the cryptocurrency cycle, coupled with favorable fundamentals, the price of Ethereum may experience substantial growth in the coming months and years. Berckmans likened the current market situation to the "second inning", indicating that the bull market has just heated up and there is still a lot of room for growth in the future .

Ethereum starts to gain momentum from $2,255

Crypto analyst Ryan James said that after a sharp drop two weeks ago, ETH hit horizontal support around $2,160 and finally settled above the 0.382 Fibonacci support level around $2,255. Ethereum has been showing bullish momentum at this level since last week and may turn its sights back to the golden ratio resistance level around $2,550.

The RSI on the weekly chart is currently neutral, providing no clear signal of bullish or bearish momentum. If Ethereum falls below the 0.382 Fibonacci support level at $2,255, and thus the horizontal support around $2,140, ​​the next important Fibonacci support is expected to be around $1,950.

At this level, the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) is likely to provide additional support, potentially continuing to stabilize current prices or setting the stage for a rebound.