Popular Trader Just Shorted Ethereum – Here Is Why

The crypto market has turned its fortunes around after last week’s retrace, with Bitcoin once again in the green over a seven-day timeframe. Although the last quarter for 2023 has many in the community itching to label the current uptrend a “bull market”, popular trader Peter Brandt isn’t so convinced.

Rising Wedge Suggests Impending Ethereum Pullback 

Amid all the hype around spot crypto ETFs, prominent crypto trader Peter Brandt – who boasts 700k followers on Twitter – believes that the charts are sending out trade signals. Brandt suggests that the long-term ETH/USD chart is showing signs of a rising wedge pattern, which usually signals an incoming bearish trend reversal. The pattern is typified by narrowing price ranges, while higher highs and lows are encompassed by the wedge’s trendlines. 

Brandt admits that “classical chart patterns…fail to perform according to the textbooks all the time”. Even if his interpretation of the ETH/USD chart is correct, that does not necessarily mean that a reversal will play out according to the indicator. However, it was enough for Brandt to openly announce he had shorted Ethereum, with a target price of first USD $1,000 (AUD $1,492) and eventually USD $650 (AUD $970).

Interestingly, some of Brandt’s fans claim that his reading of the chart pattern may actually be incorrect. Many have suggested that what he’s pointing out is actually an ascending triangle – which implies bullish continuation of the current Ethereum run.

Will ETFs Be Good for Crypto?

While the community awaits spot crypto ETFs with bated breath, there’s hot debate over whether it will actually be good for the industry. On the one hand, allowing traditional finance into the sector will unlock billions (if not) trillions of dollars, improved reputation across the public and more legitimacy to Bitcoin and other tokens as assets.

However, some investors are concerned that TradFi’s emergence in the crypto markets goes against everything the blockchain strives for. Modern-day TradFi comprises massive, multi-national companies that control significant amounts of the fiat currency supply across several industries. This type of centralisation may take the power away from the crypto community and put it back into the hands of financial institutions – exactly what Bitcoin was created to circumvent.