CME Ethereum Futures Interest hits record highs – What’s next for ETH?

• Institutional players doubled on ETH as CME Futures OI hit a record high of $2.5 billion
• With ETH gaining ground against BTC, will the momentum be sustainable this time? 

Institutional interest in Ethereum [ETH] more than doubled in November, with CME Futures Open Interest (OI) hitting a record high of 662,600 ETH (about $2.5 billion).

In fact, according to K33 Research, this pointed to a sharp jump from 350,950 ETH on 4 November, just before the Presidential elections in the United States. 

Source: K33 Research

ETH closes in on BTC

On 25 November, the CME ETH Futures volume climbed even higher. The ETH annualized basis – the premium hedge funds get when they buy U.S spot ETH ETFs and short ETH Futures – also edged higher.

This trend has since outpaced the BTC pattern since the U.S elections, noted Coinbase research analyst David Han. Han stated, 

“CME ETH basis has recently expanded beyond BTC as well after trailing behind it for the past several months.”

Source: Coinbase

While the hike in institutional interest could be a net positive for ETH’s price, hedging strategies adopted by hedge funds can expose the asset to wild price swings accelerated by liquidations. 

That being said, ETH’s growing momentum against BTC was also evident in the ETHBTC ratio, with the same tracking the altcoin’s relative performance to BTC.

In fact, ETH has attracted more flows over the past seven days, as evidenced by the nearly 15% hike in the ETHBTC ratio. 

Source: ETH/BTC, TradingView

This meant that ETH outperformed BTC over the past few days, especially during BTC’s latest slump.

However, the trend could only be sustainable if the ETHBTC ratio decisively soared above the 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average). 

Read Ethereum [ETH] Price Prediction 2024-2025

We saw a false breakout in early November, which led ETH to underperform afterwards. Will this time be different, with the ETHBTC ratio flirting with the 50-day MA?

At press time, ETH was valued at $3.4K, up 4% in the last 24 hours, with the immediate targets at $3500 and $3600. 

Source: ETH/USDT, TradingView