Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD may hit $200.00 amid growing institutional interest

ETH/USD jumped by over 105 in a matter of hours on Thursday.
Strong institutional interest is among the coin's drivers.

Tanya Abrosimova Independent Analyst

Ethereum (ETH) has become one of the most successful coins out of top-10 on Thursday. The second-largest digital asset jumped by over 10% in a matter of hours and came close to $175.00 before retreating to $170.50 by press time. Altcoin also gained ground against BTC and managed to settle above critical $170.00.

While the upside momentum was registered across the market, ETH enjoyed additional stimulus as several market experts pointed out that institutional investors are getting more interested in the coin.

According to the recent report published by the research company Grayscale Investment, the number of institutional investments in ETH exceeded $110 million in the first quarter of 2020, which is the highest inflow than in the previous two years combined.

Meanwhile, retail traders are also fond of ETH. As previously reported by FXStreet, about 90% of margin traders were buying ETH Bitfinex. Experts believe that a combination of strong retail and institutional interest has the potential to drive ETH towards $200.00 in the nearest future.

ETH/USD: Technical picture

On a daily chart, ETH/USD stays close to $172.00. This area is reinforced by daily SMA200, thus a sustainable move higher will open up the way to $175.00 (with Thursday's high at $174.93). The next major barrier is created by the psychological $180.00 and by a combination of daily SMA100 and the upper line of the daily Bollinger Band.

On the downside, the initial support is created by $170.00, followed by an upside trend line on the approach to $160.00. The coin is supposed to maintain the upside trend as long as it stays above this barrier. If it is broken, the sell-off may gain traction with the next focus on $153.00 (the middle line of the daily Bollinger Band) and $150.00.