Ether (ETH) price is witnessing a breakout on the back of an uptick in whale activity, increasing institutional interest in Bitcoin and an overall improvement in the wider crypto market. This increased bullish sentiment pushed Ether price up over 5% on April 8. The fact that Ether trades above $3,600 could indicate that attention is shifting toward Ether and in the past year, the altcoin has seen its price rise by 96.2%. 

Ether price. Source: TradingView

Let’s review a few of the reasons for Ether’s price strength.

Investors rotate into the Ether market

Ether's ongoing rise versus the U.S. dollar coincides with its equally strong gains against Bitcoin (BTC).

Notably, the widely-tracked ETH/BTC pair gained roughly 1.5% on April 8 to reach back above the key 0.05 BTC level, suggesting a possible rotation of capital in the short term.

ETH/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Additionally, Ether’s performance against the broader cryptocurrency market has improved significantly over the last 24 hours, highlighted by an almost 2% increase in the Ethereum Dominance Index (ETH.D) from its monthly low on April 7.

ETH.D versus ETH/USD daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

This trend underscores a rising flow of capital into the Ether market from competing altcoins, bolstering ETH’s value.

Return of Ethereum whales

Ether’s latest gains precede a period of accumulation among its richest investors, also known as whales.

According to data resource Glassnode, entities holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH have increased their Ether reserves daily since March 17.

Ethereum whale net position change (1K-10K ETH). Source: Glassnode

Related: Ethereum’s ERC-20 design flaws are a crypto scammer’s best friend

Interestingly, this accumulation pattern has often been a precursor to significant price upside, such as the one Ether is witnessing today.

Institutional interest grows as traders anticipate a spot ETH ETF

A surge in traders’ interest in Ether began on Nov. 5, 2023, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledged Grayscale Investment’s application to convert its Ethereum trust into an ETF.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, filed for a spot Ether ETF on Nov. 9. The confirmation sent Ether’s price to a 6-month high at the time.

As of April 8, a total of seven spot Ether ETFs have been filed and are pending with the SEC. On April 3, the SEC called for comments on the Fidelity, Grayscale and Bitwise spot Ether ETFs.

Related: Plotting the path to $80K — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

According to CoinShares data, institutional investors pushed $13.8 billion into crypto investment products year to date in 2024. For context, for the entire year of 2021, crypto products set a record with $10.6 billion in yearly inflows. Despite outflows from institutional investors into Ether for four straight weeks, the second-largest crypto by market cap has seen $52 million flow into investment products in 2024. In total, Ether investment products have $14.1 billion in assets under management.

Crypto asset institutional investor inflows. Source: CoinShares

While the current market looks healthy, macroeconomic factors like future rate hikes and the potential U.S. crackdown on the crypto sector may slightly weigh on Ether’s price. Factors such as a spot Ether ETF approval, positive developments in clarifying regulators’ stance on crypto and a strong U.S. economy may be catalysts for price growth.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.