A trader noted that ether's recent sell-off following positive news exemplifies the "buy the rumor, sell the fact" strategy. In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) prices declined, even though several ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were approved for listing in the U.S. Ether, which had surged over 20% in the past week, fell 4% after the approval, turning it into a "sell the news" event.

Traders anticipate a significant influx of institutional capital into the ether market in the long run. Despite the ETF approvals, Bitcoin and ether prices dropped, with ether declining by 4% and the CoinDesk 20 index falling 4.5% in 24 hours, while the overall crypto market cap decreased by 2.9% to $2.5 trillion, according to CoinGecko data.

Alex Kuptsikevich, a senior market analyst at FxPro, explained to CoinDesk that the sell-off was a typical reaction of speculators and suggested that ether might pull back to around $3,000, which could attract large institutional investors to start building ETF positions. He noted a similar pattern occurred in January after the Bitcoin ETF approval, which initially reduced its price by 19% before a significant recovery.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved key regulatory filings related to ether ETFs, marking a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency. Although the SEC approved the 19B-4 form for offering and listing ETFs, the S-1 filings must still be approved before trading can commence. The SEC approved documents for eight ETFs from VanEck, Fidelity, Franklin, Grayscale, Bitwise, ARK Invest 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and BlackRock for listing on Nasdaq, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX exchanges.

If trading approval is granted, a substantial influx of institutional capital is expected, with Standard Chartered predicting up to $45 billion in inflows within the first year. Some traders expect ether to rally over 60% in the coming months, noting increased demand for futures and spot purchases of the token in the past week.