Bitcoin at 'Risk of Falling,' Ether ETFs Lackluster Performance Dismays Traders

Bitcoin (BTC) could be at risk of a short-term reversal following recent price bumps, while the dismal performance of ether (ETH) futures exchange-traded funds (ETF) weighed down on crypto majors.

“Bitcoin continues to tend to sell on growth, failing to make a fresh attack on the 200-day moving average,” FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in a note to CoinDesk. “Bitcoin has recently outperformed the stock market but is now retreating against the buying in the indices.”

“In the short term, bitcoin seems more at risk of falling than rising,” the trader said, adding ether’s bearish performance did little to boost confidence in top tokens.

Ether and bitcoin were buoyed to one-month highs last week as six ETH ETFs went live in the U.S. earlier on Monday, with traders expecting high demand for the products.

However, their performance told a different story. Less than $2 million were traded across the various ETFs on Monday, with poor volumes throughout the week prompting analysts to write down their bullish outlook and pivot to bitcoin investments instead.

Some stats from the disappointing launch day for futures-based ETH ETFs.

Overall, the shallow flows depict a hollow market and a deficient demand for ETH exposure.

You may argue that futures-based ETFs are inferior to spot ETFs, to which I agree. This, however, does not… pic.twitter.com/76h63pbFvT

— Vetle Lunde (@VetleLunde) October 3, 2023

Such sentiment weighed on prices, with ether losing nearly all gains since the past week, while bitcoin has generally hovered above support levels.

Crypto majors moved little in the past 24 hours after profit taking earlier this week and a lack of catalysts. Bitcoin slumped 0.5%, ether slipped 1%, while XRP and BNB Chain’s BNB were little changed.

Cardano’s ADA tokens were the only majors in green with a 2.2% price bump. Elsewhere, toncoin (TON) surged 8.8% on no immediately apparent catalyst, while Avalanche’s AVAX tokens continued gains from earlier this week with a 4% jump.