Skip to content
October 17, 2025Seeking Alpha logoSeeking Alpha

ETHA: The Best Risk-Reward Opportunity In All Of Crypto?

Summary As Ether becomes institutionalized, I believe the BlackRock ETHA ETF to be the least risky way to own this ￰0￱ by the tokenzation theme, I think Ether has some way up to go yet - we have a target price range of $42-49. A break below $28 would render our thesis bunk. DISCLAIMER: This note is intended for US recipients only and, in particular, is not directed at, nor intended to be relied upon by, any UK ￰1￱ in this note is intended to be investment advice, nor should it be relied upon to make investment ￰2￱ read our full disclaimer ￰3￱ More Push To The Summit! By Alex King, CEO, Cestrian Capital Research, ￰4￱ has been good to ￰5￱ because I was early, but because I was ￰6￱ because I piled in before Big Money, but because I just followed Big Money around, which is my normal investment ￰7￱ an old person, I have seen countless native-crypto enterprises fail, from ￰8￱ ￰9￱ whilst Wall Street’s shortcomings are well documented, the likelihood of a total wipeout, custodians losing your shares, etc., is just that bit lower in TradFi than it is in ￰10￱ for most of my investing history, I avoided the siren song of Bitcoin and all its lower-order brethren for fear of my hard-earned money turning to a pile of ashes and/or ending up in a thumb drive at the bottom of a municipal dump (I know I would be that guy if I used offline hardware wallets) and/or being stolen in a home invasion.

Doesn’t mean I didn’t study and watch crypto, and by that I don't mean tuning in to the endless torrent of crypto-influencer garbage that is inflicted daily on the ￰11￱ swarm of digital hornets for me. I mean watching the theory, use cases, and institutionalization of ￰12￱ now-this-might-get-interesting moment for me was when, in 2018 or 2019, I read Life After Google by George ￰13￱ this, the only use cases I could imagine with crypto (meaning Bitcoin, since everything else seemed like scams or hopium to me) were ￰14￱ manipulation for the benefit of holders and miners, ￰15￱ value transfer for holders with no access to the SWIFT system, and iii.

a store of value that, while more volatile than the U. S. dollar, was and is less volatile than many other currencies around the world, and also not in and of itself subject to capital ￰16￱ I read the Gilder book, the phrase that kept nagging at me about Ethereum (for this is Gilder’s crypto focus in his tome, following meetings with Vitalik Buterin, a cofounder of the Ethereum blockchain system) was “smart contracts.” It took me a while to understand what that meant, but I figured it was important. Crypto, as you know, was not a protection against the supposed evils of fiat currency when the equity market swooned in ￰17￱ and Ether dumped faster than a recent Nasdaq ￰18￱ a time it looked like these things were just creations of the free-money boom that began in ￰19￱ the associated stocks - your Coinbase(s) and whatnot - were in freefall, and the SEC was building a big stockpile of howitzers with which to assault the crypto-industrial ￰20￱ this happened: CNBC, 15 June 2023 ( ￰21￱ ) That changed it all in my view, since what’s good enough for ￰22￱ is surely good enough for me.

I started trading the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, once it ￰23￱ it became very clear to me that whatever the SEC’s position at the time, Big Money—the biggest of Big Money, in fact—was at ease with working with Coinbase (COIN), which likely meant that it would work out fine for ￰24￱ and company. I had been winning with a small short position in COIN (nothing very meaningful, as I scare easily); I duly closed it to bank the gains as soon as I saw that headline. I continued to ignore all the cryptobabble on the news and on social, and instead continued to trade IBIT according to ￰25￱ technical analysis - it trades just fine to standard securities pattern-recognition methods - and ￰26￱ risk-on/risk-off quantitative signal systems we run here at Cestrian, some of which are ￰27￱ has all worked out pretty well.

I think Bitcoin has some upside from here, more than the bears think and less than the bulls yell at you. I’m holding IBIT for a little longer yet. Now, back to Ethereum and those smart ￰28￱ Wall Street’s “a-ha!” moment as regards tokenization, I confess I thought this had proven to be a bust; and the price performance of Ether ￰29￱ agreed with ￰30￱ then along came two developments: firstly, the embrace of stablecoins within the GENIUS Act, and secondly, the coalescence around the Ethereum blockchain as the database of choice for tokenized asset ￰31￱ GENIUS Act is a wonderful piece of martial art; truly, it is using one’s opponent’s force to hurt the ￰32￱ energy in crypto is being used to support the dollar and support U.

S. Treasuries, because the more crypto, the more stablecoins, and the more stablecoins, the more collateral, and that collateral comes in the form of none other than Uncle Sam’s finest ￰33￱ just like that, the Old World has bear-hugged the ￰34￱ bet against a ￰35￱ as the database for tokenized assets has catalyzed an upward move in the price of Ether, and I think it has legs ￰36￱ rehash, a tokenized asset is just a digital version of said ￰37￱ be a painting, a building, a classic car collection, or a share of AT&T. What was analog and offline can now be digital and ￰38￱ can choose your own reason as to why tokenization is being embraced by Wall ￰39￱ folk-hero reason is “to democratize access to previously illiquid elite assets!” like private credit funds and so ￰40￱ could be true.

Or, it could be that asset owners are seeking new pools of liquidity to keep the bid ￰41￱ it could be that the providers of the plumbing might welcome the lack of clarity in securities regulation as regards ￰42￱ your own ending. Me, I always choose darkness as regards securities markets, so I’m going with “yippee, we get to sell unmovable chunks of private credit funds into 401(k)s, and best of all, they might not even be securities, yay!! ” But you could choose life and believe it’s to do with helping people. Don’t let my cynicism drag you down. Anyway, if you want to play on the Ethereum blockchain, and Wall Street really does, trust me - then you need some Ether on hand.

Why? Because just like you used to have to pay Ma Bell in US Dollars to process your transactions on Tuxedo, now you have to pay the Ethereum people in Ether to process your transactions on their ￰43￱ exchange for which, if you “stake” (deposit or lend) your Ether, you’ll be paid a ￰44￱ the elusive “Bitcoin Yield” that ￰45￱ is wont to cite but actual yield, albeit paid to you in … more ￰46￱ of this is why Ether has been on the rise ￰47￱ back to my original take about native crypto ￰48￱ Money Crypto, you won’t find me buying any of the native ￰49￱ recent liquidation meltdown in crypto exchanges only supports my resolve to not go near them. Here’s Ether ￰50￱ S&P, the Nasdaq, and Bitcoin since the post-Liberation Day lows this ￰51￱ ￰52￱ ￰53￱ Old People ( YCharts ) And here’s where I think Ether can get to before any major correction: Ether Potential Outlook (TradingView, Cestrian Capital Research, Inc) This chart assumes that Ether doesn’t break below $3500 - if it does, the next stop is the 200-day simple moving average at $3175, and if that gives way, only the Gates of Hades are a definite ￰54￱ if $3500 holds, I think the 5-wave projection model, just standard Fibonacci extensions and retracements, gets Ether to somewhere between $5250-6250.

And if that happens? I’m out of ￰55￱ at that point probably the overall market is looking for a rest, and since I don’t much want to hold such a volatile asset on the way down, I’ll take my ball home and wait for support to be ￰56￱ choice of instrument in Ether is, it won’t surprise you to learn, the BlackRock ETF, ￰57￱ is the biggest and most liquid Ether ETF of all , with the lowest fees of any at-scale Ether ￰58￱ the same chart logic as for Ether itself, I think ETHA can hit $42-49 before a material correction; for those who like to use sell-stop-limit orders, I would suggest considering such a stop a little way below the Wave 4 low shown on this ￰59￱ choosing a not-obvious number so your stop can’t be as easily hunted out as it otherwise ￰60￱ Chart (TradingView, Cestrian Capital Research, Inc) Cestrian Capital Research, Inc - 17 October 2025.

Seeking Alpha logo
Seeking Alpha

Latest news and analysis from Seeking Alpha

Solana Eyes $190 Support for Potential Rally to $240–$300

Solana Eyes $190 Support for Potential Rally to $240–$300

Solana holds steady near $186, with the $190 support level critical for sustaining upward momentum toward $240–$300 targets. Analysts emphasize that maintaining this zone preserves the bullish wave st...

CoinOtag logoCoinOtag
1 min
Analyst Suggests Bitcoin Peak Could Still Lie Ahead as Data Model Signals Potential High

Analyst Suggests Bitcoin Peak Could Still Lie Ahead as Data Model Signals Potential High

Bitcoin analyst Joao Wedson predicts the cryptocurrency’s peak is still ahead, as Alphractal’s Max Intersect SMA Model flashes a historical signal indicating new market highs. This data-driven tool, p...

CoinOtag logoCoinOtag
1 min
XRP Records Worst Month Since April 2025, Bulls Pin Hopes on November ETF Launch

XRP Records Worst Month Since April 2025, Bulls Pin Hopes on November ETF Launch

XRP experienced its worst monthly performance since April 2025 in October, declining by 10.8% amid severe consolidations, failing to deliver the anticipated Uptober rally despite early gains. XRP’s Oc...

CoinOtag logoCoinOtag
1 min