Ethereum’s price has risen for four consecutive days and is now hovering around the crucial support level of $2,000, as BlackRock launches its first staking ETF today, March 12.
Summary
- BlackRock will launch ETHB today, its first staking Ethereum ETF.
- ETHB will have an expense ratio of 0.25%, making it a better option than ETHA.
- Ethereum has formed a bearish flag pattern, pointing to a retreat.
Ethereum ($ETH), the second-biggest cryptocurrency, trades at $2,056, inside a range it has remained in in the past 30 days. This price is nearly 60% below its all-time high.
A major catalyst for $ETH price is that BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, will launch its staking ETF today. This is a big milestone that will address a key challenge that has existed in the existing funds.
Existing Ethereum ETFs, which have over $11.85 billion in assets, don’t offer staking rewards, making them less ideal to most investors. In BlackRock’s case, holders of the ETHA ETF pay an annual fee of 0.25% and forego a monthly return. Data shows that Ethereum has a staking return of about 3%.
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The new ETF will have a ticker of ETHB and an annual fee of 0.25%. It will initially have a fee waiver of 0.12% for the first year or when it hits $2.5 billion in assets.
NEW: BlackRock is launching their Ethereum Staking ETF today — $ETHB. It will have the same fee as $ETHA at 0.25% bps but has a fee waiver down to 0.12% for the first year or first $2.5 billion in assets. pic.twitter.com/aR3FVRChPz
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) March 12, 2026
Therefore, a likely scenario is where there is a rotation from ETHA and other Ethereum ETFs to ETHB. It may also lead to more inflows from investors who have not invested in these funds yet.
Ethereum price prediction
$ETH price chart | Source: crypto.news
The daily timeframe chart shows that the $ETH price crashed from the all-time high of $4,950 to the current $2,065. It has constantly remained below the 50-day and 200-day moving averages since November last year when it formed a death cross pattern.
Ethereum price has formed a horizontal channel whose support and resistance levels are at $1,843 and $2,193. It has remained inside this channel since February 6 this year.
This channel formed after the coin declined sharply, meaning that this is part of a bearish flag pattern. In most cases, this pattern often leads to a strong bearish breakout.
Therefore, the coin will likely have a strong bearish breakout in the near term. If this happens, the initial target will be the lower side of the channel at $1,843. A drop below that price will lead to further downside, potentially to $1,500.
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