• SEC greenlighted option trading for BlackRock, Fidelity, and Bitwise spot ETH ETFs. 
• The agency could approve staking on the products as soon as May or August, noted a Bloomberg analyst. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved options trading for spot Ethereum [ETH] ETFs. The agency greenlighted options trading for BlackRock’s ETHA, Bitwise’s BITW, and Fidelity’s FETH. 

According to Nate Geraci of ETF Store, the update could attract more ETH investments. He noted, 

“SEC has approved options trading on spot eth ETFs…Like with BTC ETFs, expect to see a bunch of new launches from issuers.Covered call strategy ETH ETFs, buffer ETH ETFs, etc.” 

Despite the positive update, however, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart stated that the outcome was ‘100% expected’ because it was the deadline for the SEC decision. Simply put, ETH had priced in the outcome. 

But he added that staking on the products could be approved by early May or August, despite their October deadline. 

“Its possible they could be approved for staking early, but the final deadline is at the end of October.”

Most experts expected staking approval to impact ETH demand and value more, especially from institutional investors seeking the extra 3% annual yield. 

In fact, some analysts believed that the lack of staking was partly to blame for spot ETH ETF’s lukewarm performance compared to BTC ETFs.

Since their debut, the products have logged $2.3B in cumulative inflows. However, spot BTC ETFs recorded $35B in total inflows — that’s 17x time outperformance by BTC ETFs. 

That said, ETH jumped +10% from $1400 to $1600 on the 9th of April. This followed President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on various tariffs. Hence, the options’ approval wasn’t a key catalyst for the price upswing. 

Even so, there was a notable spike in market interest for the altcoin, as revealed by the new high in April’s Social Volume. 

But the sentiment was still negative to drive a sustainable recovery for ETH. On the 4-hour price chart, ETH had a bullish RSI divergence, which could signal that a likely recovery was in sight.

However, the momentum could only be confirmed if the On Balance Volume (OBV) cleared the overhead hurdle (trendline resistance). 

In conclusion, ETH price could stall near 50EMA ($1600) in the short term, like it did in the past few days.

However, a decisive move and improved trading volume above the hurdle could push it higher. But the long-term recovery might hinge on a positive macro shift and likely ETH ETF staking approval.