Ethereum market update: ETH/USD sets eyes on $200 as CFTC readies for ETH futures

• Intraday charts for ETH/USD trading pair trending upwards 2.94%.
• A building bullish momentum could recover above $180 while the bulls still focus on $200.

Ethereum 9.15% rise comes after positive news from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on May 6. The daily trading volume rose incredibly from $5.9 billion on May 5 to $7.5 billion on May 6. The volume has continued to increase and stands at 48.8 billion in the last 24 hours. The market cap has also grown significantly from $17.3 billion to $18.8 billion in the same period.

Meanwhile, we see the intraday charts for ETH/USD trading pair trending upwards 2.94%. Since the last week of April, the price consolidated above $160 (support congestion) while the upside stayed limited at $170. However, the news on ETH futures revived investor interest in the crypto as the price corrected upwards above the 100 SMA 1-hour and later break above $170. Continued bullish pressure within an ascending channel zoomed above $180 but came short of $185 forming a high at $184.08.

For now, Ethereum is trading at $179.29 after a slight retracement. The 15-minutes chart shows the price has broken above a short-term bullish flag pattern after finding support at $177.78. A building bullish momentum could recover above $180 while the bulls still focus on $200 in the short-term. Other support areas are $175, $170 as well as $160.

ETH/USD 1-hour chart

The CFTC according to CoinDesk is ready to consider Ethereum futures contracts. The report cited an anonymous source who said:

“I think we can get comfortable with an ether derivative being under our jurisdiction. We don’t do bold pronouncements, what we do is we look at applications before us.”

It is believed that a futures contract for Ethereum will spike fresh interest and demand for the coin just like what happened on Both CME and CBOE back in December 2017.