After enduring a significant downturn at the beginning of the past week, Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, has staged a modest recovery, reclaiming the crucial $2,600 level and setting its sights on the $3,000 milestone once again.

The August 5 crash, which saw Ethereum’s price plummet to $2,112, marked the year’s largest market slump. However, the digital asset has since bounced back, 8% in the last seven days, hinting at the possibility of a more sustained bullish trend.

Massive Ethereum Liquidations Trigger Bullish Signals

According to a recent report by market analytics firm CryptoQuant on the ETH’s price action, the chart below highlights a substantial liquidation of long perpetual positions on the futures market experienced during last week’s crash. 

The firm notes that in sustained bull markets, such a significant liquidation event is often followed by a major price rally as the futures market stabilizes and spot buying pressure takes over.

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“The recent cascade has triggered massive long liquidations, reaching levels not seen since November 2022,” the firm noted. “This substantial liquidation likely indicates a cooling of the futures market, where many leveraged positions have been flushed out. Such a development can set the stage for renewed interest in the futures market.”

With the futures market potentially resetting, CryptoQuant believes that if demand returns, Ethereum could be poised for another impulsive bullish surge in the longer term that could send prices above previous all-time high levels. 

ETH’s Price Path To $3,000 

Crypto analyst Caleb Franzen echoed a similar prediction for ETH’s price in a social media post on the X platform (formerly Twitter), suggesting that if Ethereum can take out the $2,725 level, it could signal a strong move higher. 

Franzen’s analysis of the 4-hour candles and market structure indicates a series of higher lows and a bullish reading on the supertrend indicators, further fueling the optimism surrounding Ethereum’s future performance.

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However, with ETH currently trading at $2,645, the first resistance on the ETH/USDT weekly chart, located at the $2,700 level, has proven to be the first hurdle for the second-largest cryptocurrency to overcome in recent days.

In a scenario where the current rally extends into the coming weeks and the ETH price tackles the level highlighted by Franzen, the $2,900 and $2,990 resistance walls would be the last obstacles to reclaim the $3,000 level. 

Conversely, the token will need to secure and consolidate above the $2,550 level to prevent further declines toward the next support on the daily chart, currently located at the $2,345 level following its 25% correction. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

Solana (SOL) and Ripple’s XRP enthusiasts hoping for a repeat of the Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) launch in the United States were disappointed after BlackRock’s senior ETF executive said Bitcoin and Ethereum are the only cryptocurrencies that meet the criteria for ETFs.

No BlackRock SOL, XRP ETFs In The Near Future

In a Bloomberg interview on Monday, BlackRock’s investment chief for ETF and Index Investments, Samara Cohen, affirmed that the investment giant is not pursuing funds that track other crypto assets like ETH rival Solana and XRP.

Cohen said that while Bitcoin and Ethereum met the minimum expectations of the investment giant for exchange-traded funds, no other digital coin came close.

She also said there are major technical hurdles in bringing other crypto-based ETFs into the market as the appetite for other currency ETFs, including SOL, simply wasn’t there.

“We really look at the investability to see what meets the criteria, what meets the bar to be delivered in an ETF,” Cohen posited in the interview. “For us, both in terms of investability and also what we hear from our clients, Bitcoin and Ethereum definitely meet that bar, but it will be a while before we see anything else.”

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Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, recently echoed the sentiment, positing at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, “I don’t think we’re gonna see a long list of crypto ETFs.”

Crypto Market Betting On SOL ETFs

After spot Ethereum ETFs successfully hit the market last week, propelling crypto funds’ weekly trading volume to $14.8 billion, the highest since May, speculation has been on which crypto will march onto Wall Street next to claim the crypto ETF prize. 

Solana has been tipped as the most likely candidate, and in fact, there have been two separate applications for US-listed SOL ETFs by both VanEck and 21Shares.

The speculation that SOL would be next was further bolstered when traditional U.S. fund manager Franklin Templeton touted Solana as an “exciting and major development that we believe will drive the crypto space forward.”

Many crypto proponents are bullish on SOL because it is considered a much faster and cheaper alternative to Ether. However, the absence of Solana CME futures, as there are BTC and ETH, is seen as a significant barrier to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to give its regulatory blessing to a Solana ETF.

Solana has now flipped Binance’s native BNB token by market cap, becoming the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. The sheer size of the token undoubtedly makes it hard for financial giants to ignore it forever.

Meanwhile, the SEC may be dropping its charges against “Third-Party Crypto Asset Securities”, such as SOL, Polygon’s MATIC, and Cardano (ADA), which have been part of its case against crypto exchange Binance, a July 30 filing showed. The SEC alleged that these tokens meet the Howey test, which defines sales of securities as investment contracts.

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