As anticipation builds for the potential approval of an Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF), traders are increasingly favoring ETH over Bitcoin (BTC).
Recent data from CryptoQuant indicates that the ETH-BTC open interest ratio has risen from 0.54 to 0.67 in the last week. This suggests that traders are opting for more exposure to Ethereum rather than Bitcoin in anticipation of the approval of the spot ETH ETF.
Santiment data reveals that the total open interest in ETH currently stands at $8.53 billion, with the overall funding rate for Ethereum rising from 0.016% to 0.018% in the past 24 hours.
The data also indicates an increase in traders betting on a potential surge in ETH prices, with the likelihood of significant liquidations due to high price volatility.
Additionally, there has been a surge in demand for Ethereum from “Permanent Holders” – investors who purchase assets and hold onto them without selling. According to CryptoQuant, these addresses accumulated over 100,000 ETH on May 20, the highest level since September 2023.
Despite the growing accumulation and interest in Ethereum, there were net inflows of 62,000 tokens into exchanges on May 20. Most of these assets were deposited into Binance and Bybit crypto exchanges, according to CryptoQuant.
Data from Santiment shows a 40% decrease in whale transactions involving at least $100,000 worth of ETH in the past 24 hours, with the number of transactions now standing at 10,689 per day.
These trends, along with the increase in exchange inflows, suggest that investors are eagerly awaiting the approval of the ETH ETF, leading to expectations of high price volatility as traders seek short-term profits.
At the time of writing, ETH has risen by 1.7% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $1,810, with a market cap of $457 billion and a daily trading volume of $24.6 billion.
However, it is crucial to consider that Ethereum could experience a significant downward trend if the U.S. SEC rejects or delays the approval of the spot ETH ETFs.
For more information, visit Nansen: Ether ETF approval, rates decline spurred crypto recovery.