Ethereum price slowly forms a risky pattern as BlackRock launches ETH staking ETF

Ethereum’s price has risen for four consecutive days and is now hovering around the crucial support level of $2,000, as BlackRock launches its first staking ETF today, March 12.

Ethereum ($ETH), the second-biggest cryptocurrency, trades at $2,056, inside a range it has remained in in the past 30 days. This price is nearly 60% below its all-time high.

A major catalyst for $ETH price is that BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, will launch its staking ETF today. This is a big milestone that will address a key challenge that has existed in the existing funds.

Existing Ethereum ETFs, which have over $11.85 billion in assets, don’t offer staking rewards, making them less ideal to most investors. In BlackRock’s case, holders of the ETHA ETF pay an annual fee of 0.25% and forego a monthly return. Data shows that Ethereum has a staking return of about 3%.

The new ETF will have a ticker of ETHB and an annual fee of 0.25%. It will initially have a fee waiver of 0.12% for the first year or when it hits $2.5 billion in assets.

Therefore, a likely scenario is where there is a rotation from ETHA and other Ethereum ETFs to ETHB. It may also lead to more inflows from investors who have not invested in these funds yet.

Ethereum price prediction

$ETH price chart | Source: crypto.news

The daily timeframe chart shows that the $ETH price crashed from the all-time high of $4,950 to the current $2,065. It has constantly remained below the 50-day and 200-day moving averages since November last year when it formed a death cross pattern.

Ethereum price has formed a horizontal channel whose support and resistance levels are at $1,843 and $2,193. It has remained inside this channel since February 6 this year.

This channel formed after the coin declined sharply, meaning that this is part of a bearish flag pattern. In most cases, this pattern often leads to a strong bearish breakout.

Therefore, the coin will likely have a strong bearish breakout in the near term. If this happens, the initial target will be the lower side of the channel at $1,843. A drop below that price will lead to further downside, potentially to $1,500.