Ether ETFs Are Unlikely to Be Approved in May: Standard Chartered

Still, the bank says that the bad news is already priced in for bitcoin and ether, and “positive structural drivers” are expected to take over again. The company reiterated its end-of-year bitcoin price target of $150,000 and its ether forecast of $8,000. Bitcoin was trading around $66,800 and ether was near $3,237 at publication time.

Market positioning is now much cleaner than before, as $261 million of leveraged long positions were removed from the bitcoin futures market on April 13 in response to Iran’s attack on Israel, the report noted. This was the largest daily liquidation since October 2023.

Bitcoin spot ETF inflows have likely slowed due to macro reasons, the report said. These include higher U.S. Treasury yields and geopolitical tension in the Middle East.