Record monthly ETF inflows were not enough to lift Ether prices above the $3,500 resistance level, which would trigger over $1 billion worth of leveraged liquidations.
Ether ETFs $ETH hit new records in December, despite low liquidity due to the holiday, raising expectations of a price rally.
According to data from Farside Investors, net inflows into ETH ETFs in December reached $2.1 billion, nearly double the more than $1 billion in November. This figure strengthens Ether's position in the cryptocurrency market and attracts the attention of investors.
ETH ETFs surpassed $2.5 billion in cumulative net inflows on December 24, five months after launching trading on July 23, 2024, Cointelegraph reported.
Despite record inflows, Ether has failed to break out of its current downtrend. Ether is down 8.4% on its monthly chart, trading at $3,353 as of 9:54 a.m. UTC, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro.
However, some traders are taking advantage of Ether's downtrend. One savvy crypto trader made more than $1.1 million on his 50x leveraged Ether position in just two days after taking a short position in Ether, essentially betting on its price to fall.
The surge in ETF inflows is a bullish sign for Ether's price trajectory next year, further bolstering the prediction by asset management giant VanEck that ETH will peak at $6,000 by 2025.
Can Ether Surpass $3.5K Despite $1 Billion in Total Shorting?
The $3,500 price level continues to act as significant resistance for the world's second-largest cryptocurrency.
CoinGlass data shows that a potential Ether rally above $3,500 would liquidate more than $1 billion worth of cumulative leveraged short positions across all cryptocurrency exchanges.
At the time of writing, Ether price is trading 31% below its previous all-time high of above $4,800, recorded on November 16, 2021.
Based on technical chart patterns, Ether has entered an accumulation wave that could help ETH price surpass $4,400 in the first quarter of 2025, prominent crypto analyst TMV wrote in a December 28 X post:
However, the analyst warned that a correction below $2,914 would invalidate the accumulation wave thesis.
Most crypto analysts remain optimistic about Ether's price trajectory in the first half of 2025.
A Bybit spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the price of Ether is likely to rise above $4,000 before January 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
