The launch of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, expected as early as July 8, is anticipated to boost Ethereum's performance relative to Bitcoin (BTC), according to analysts.
ETH is currently trading at $3,360, while BTC is priced at $60,907. Analysts Vetle Lunde and David Zimmerman from K33 Research highlighted in a report on July 2 that these ETFs could be a significant catalyst ("golden egg") for ETH's price. In contrast, Bitcoin may face selling pressure as approximately $8.5 billion worth of Bitcoin is set to be returned to creditors of the defunct Mt. Gox exchange starting this week.
Over the past year, ETH has lagged behind Bitcoin in terms of performance, despite recent market-leading gains by Bitcoin, which saw over $14 billion flowing into Bitcoin exchange-traded products this year alone.
The analysts noted that the market has persistently disagreed with their stance, citing Ether futures trading at a discount relative to Bitcoin futures. Currently, 1 ETH is equivalent to approximately 0.055 BTC.
The relative value of ETH compared to Bitcoin has been on a downward trend for the past 12 months, hitting a yearly low of 0.045 on May 24. However, following the unexpected SEC approval of Ether ETFs, ETH/BTC quickly rebounded to its current level of 0.055, as per TradingView data.
