Ether extends its rally following 20% surge on renewed ether ETF optimism

Cryptocurrencies rose Tuesday amid a late surge in optimism around the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s decisions on spot ether exchange-traded funds applications, the first of which is due this week.

Ether led the rally, rising 9% to $3,680.98, according to Coin Metrics. On Monday, it rocketed 20%.

Meanwhile, bitcoin added 2% and was trading at about $71,350, extending an 8% gain from the previous day, when it reclaimed the $70,000 level.

Crypto-related equities rode the wave. Coinbase and Microstrategy each gained about 2% in extended trading, and Robinhood added 3%. Several bitcoin mining stocks saw gains of 3%, including Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Iren (formerly known as Iris Energy) and CleanSpark.

Investors are reconsidering the probability that the SEC greenlights spot ether ETF applications amid reports that the SEC has requested document updates from potential ETF issuers and exchanges. The previous consensus was that such funds would likely not be approved.

“ETH spiked upwards shortly after rumors started circulating that the SEC might approve spot ETH ETFs this week after all,” said Bartosz Lipiński, CEO at Cube Exchange.

“Much like with spot bitcoin ETFs being approved earlier in the year, though, this feels to me like a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ type situation and I would imagine a rally through this Thursday … and then at least a brief selloff regardless of whether or not the funds are approved,” he added.

Final decisions on applications by VanEck and Ark Invest are due this Thursday and Friday, respectively.

BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Grayscale and Bitwise Asset Management also have applications awaiting decisions this year.