The price of Ether could rally to the $4,500 mark before the official approval of the first spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), says Arthur Cheong, the founder and CEO of crypto-focused investment firm DeFiance Capital.

In a May 26 X post, Cheong wrote to his 167,000 followers:

“4.5k before spot ETF goes live for trading [in my opinion].”

Ether (ETH) was trading at $3,903, up 2.57% in the 24 hours leading up to 10:56 am UTC. if Cheong’s prediction comes true, Ether’s price would rally over 15% from its current level to the $4,500 mark, according to CoinMarketCap.

The prediction comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the 19b-4 filings for eight spot Ether ETF issuers on May 23, allowing them to be listed and traded on their respective exchanges.

The first batch of approved ETFs includes the filings from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise.

While the approval of the 19b-4 filings is a positive sign from the U.S. securities regulator, ETF issuers also need to gain approval for their S-1 filings, which could take months, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, who wrote in a May 20 X post:

“It could be weeks to months before we see S-1 approvals and thus a live ETH ETF… That said, if we’re correct and we see these theoretical approvals later this week. It *should* mean that S-1 approvals are a matter of ‘When’ not ‘If’...”

Related: Fidelity reportedly amends Ether ETF S-1 filing, removes ETH staking

Can Ether rally another 15% before the ETF approval?

Ether price has shown strong upward movement following recent developments related to spot Ether ETFs.

A hypothetical rally to $4,500 seems feasible with more positive developments, as it would put Ether's price 8% below its all-time high of $4,891 reached on Nov. 16, 2021.

However, ETH faces significant resistance at the $4,000 and $4,100 mark. A potential move above $4,100 would liquidate over $500 million worth of cumulative leveraged short positions across all exchanges, according to CoinGlass data.

The ETF approval could be Ether’s strongest price catalyst during the current bull cycle that could propel Ether's price to $10,000, according to Andrey Stoychev, the head of prime brokerage at Nexo.

Stoychev told Cointelegraph:

“ETH ETFs in the U.S. and similar products in Asia could be the driver that helps the asset reach $10,000 by end-2024, catching up with Bitcoin’s performance post-ETF.”

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