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- SEC delays decision on Ethereum ETF S-1 drafts as analysts shifted their potential launch date again.
- Ethereum whale risks liquidation if $ETH declines to $2,984.
- Ethereum breaches key support amid key insight from CME open interest.
Ethereum is down more than 5% on Thursday following the Securities & Exchange Commission's (SEC) failure to approve $ETH ETF issuers' S-1 drafts. Meanwhile, the recent decline has strengthened the bearish outlook after $ETH moved below a key support level, sparking $90 million in long liquidations.
Daily digest market movers: SEC yet to approve $ETH ETF
Despite its light comments on issuers’ S-1 drafts, the SEC has yet to approve spot $ETH ETFs following the US Independence Day holiday. As a result, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart shifted his over/under date for a potential approval to next weekend.
The SEC approved spot $ETH ETF issuers' 19b-4 filings in May, but also need to sign off on their S-1s before the products go live.
Nate Geraci, President of ETF Store, noted that the SEC expects issuers to amend their S-1s by July 8, with another round of filings potentially due around July 12. This "would theoretically mean launch week of July 15" for spot $ETH ETFs, wrote Geraci in an X post.
Meanwhile, following the recent market decline, a whale who longed $ETH via the Compound protocol is about to be liquidated, according to data from Lookonchain. The whale deposited 12,734 $ETH worth $40 million to Compound and borrowed $31.4 million worth of dollar-denominated stablecoins with a health rate of 1.06. The whale risks liquidation if the price of $ETH drops to $2,984.
$ETH technical analysis: Ethereum bears lead market amid slight bullish sentiment from US investors
Ethereum is trading around $3,132 on Thursday, down more than 5% on the day. The decline wiped out more than $90.81 million worth of long positions from the market, bringing the total $ETH liquidations to $102.48 million in the past 24 hours.
$ETH has now breached the $3,203 key support level, strengthening its bearish outlook. With the move, $ETH has fully balanced the market inefficiency from itsprice spike following news of the SEC's U-turn on spot $ETH ETFs.
$ETH/$USDT 4-hour chart" src="https://cnews24.ru/uploads/199/1991607cb72a0f68545f3b6cf58d64b90bda6242.png" size="1281x571">
$ETH/$USDT 4-hour chart
$ETH may test the $3,029 support level in the next few hours. A bounce from this level will cool the bearish momentum. However, a move below it may see $ETH seeking support around the $2,852 price level.
In the past 24 hours, Ethereum's futures open interest (OI) across top exchanges declined by almost 5%. Open interest is the number of outstanding contracts in a derivatives market that are yet to be settled.
While the move signified wider risk aversion from traders, Ethereum's CME OI was an outlier, rising almost 1% in the last 24 hours. This indicates that US investors may be slightly bullish despite declining prices due to expectations of spot $ETH ETFs' launch.
Another key insight is that spot $ETH ETFs may experience impressive flows using the rising $ETH CME OI as a proxy to measure investors' sentiment. As a result, $ETH may take bears by surprise and rally past its yearly high, invalidating the bearish thesis.