Institutional investors are more bullish on Ether than retail investors, a week ahead of the potential launch of the first spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Institutional investor confidence in Ether’s (ETH) price is stronger than retail investors, according to Eugene Cheung, head of institutions at Bybit.
Cheung told Cointelegraph:
“Our recent report shows that institutional investors are bullish on ETH, more so than retail investors.”
Institutional investors doubled their Ether exposure shortly after the ETF was announced, from 6.54% to 14.29%, according to the report referenced by Cheung. During the same period, retail investor allocation rose to 9.52% from 7.4%, showing a cautiously optimistic sentiment toward Ether price.
Institutional investors can significantly contribute to an asset’s price appreciation due to the high amount of capital they hold, which is why institutional crypto interest is considered a bullish sign for tokens.
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Will Ether’s price double in the next 18 months?
Ether’s price could see a two-fold increase during the current bull cycle, meaning that ETH would be trading over the $6,800 mark by the end of 2025.
Thanks to the newfound interest in Ether ETFs, Ether’s price could double, according to Bybit’s Cheung, who said:
“I have seen traders increasing their exposure to Ethereum recently. The anticipation of ETF approval has also driven interest in assets within the broader Ethereum ecosystem. I am optimistic about ETH’s long-term price, expecting it to double in the next 18 months, giving potential investors an excellent risk/reward ratio.”
Ether’s price is up 11.3% on the weekly chart, trading at $3,420 as of 12:25 pm UTC. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency reversed its month-long downtrend on July 8, according to TradingView data.
However, Ether would need another $412 billion worth of investment to double its current market capitalization and reach the $6,800 mark. Ether is currently 30% down from its all-time high of above $4,800, reached in November 2021.
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Ether may outperform Bitcoin in the long term
Despite all the investor anticipation, Ether ETFs will only be a “sidekick” to Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in terms of inflows, according to Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg.
This view is also echoed by Bybit’s Cheung, who expects Ether to amass around 30% of the record-breaking inflows of Bitcoin ETFs. He said:
“Ether is less understood than BTC and is a younger asset, so it’s largely unknown how flows will stack up. In the short term, I would expect something like 30% of BTC flows.”
Yet in the long-term, the Ether ETF launch could provide more regulatory certainty around Ether, which could make it outperform Bitcoin’s price in the future, according to Cheung:
“However, as people become more educated and the regulatory situation improves, then I expect Ether to one day outperform BTC because of its rich and varied use cases, especially if the ETFs can incorporate Ether’s native yield.”
During the past year, Bitcoin’s price rose over 111%, while Ether’s price increased over 77%, TradingView data shows.
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