Ether to hit $6.5K later this year driven by inflows into spot ETFs: Analyst

The crypto market is being overly pessimistic about the imminent launch of spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. and net inflows could hit $20 billion in the first year as the cryptocurrency has qualities that appeal to Wall Street, Steno Research said in a report on Thursday.

“We continue to forecast a net inflow between $15 billion and $20 billion in the first 12 months, even considering the outflow from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE),” senior analyst Mads Eberhardt wrote, adding that this should drive the value of ether higher, in dollar terms and also relative to bitcoin (BTC).

Ether is predicted to reach at least $6,500 later this year due to these expected inflows to spot ETFs, plus additional tailwinds, the report said.

Spot ether ETFs are on the cusp of becoming available for trading in the U.S. after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlighted filings from issuers last month. Once the S-1 filings are approved the new products will start trading, and this could happen as soon as next week according to reports.

If the estimated spot ether ETF inflows are correct, the ether/bitcoin ratio should strengthen to 0.065 later this year, Steno said.

“A smaller inflow into ether ETFs compared to bitcoin ETFs will have a greater impact on ether due to its lower market capitalization and substantially poorer liquidity,” and as a result of this inflows into ETH spot ETFS are more likely to surprise to the upside than the downside, the report added.

Steno is more bullish on the outlook for spot ether ETFs flows than others. Galaxy (GLXY) Research said spot ether ETFs could see $5 billion of net inflows in the first five months. Asset Manager Bitwise predicted $15 billion of net inflows in the first 18 months.