Ethereum broke its 22-month record by surpassing $3,000 amid positive market speculation.

The price of Ethereum surged to a notable milestone last day, briefly crossing the $3,000 mark for the first time in 22 months.

During this period, the price of ETH reached a high of around $3,025, soaring a whopping 27% in the past 30 days. However, its value is said to have fallen slightly, down 3.5%, to about $2,920 at press time. CryptoSlate’s data.

Why is ETH rising?

The recent price surge of ETH is largely due to speculation surrounding the possibility that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in May.

British multinational bank Standard Chartered predicted a favorable outcome for the approval of a spot ETH ETF. Leading figures from crypto asset management firms such as Bitwise, Grayscale, and Galaxy Digital have estimated a 50% chance of approval for their pending spot Ethereum ETF application.

Meanwhile, applicants like VanEck, Ark Invest, and 21Shares are adjusting their applications to meet the SEC’s criteria for Bitcoin ETF approval.

Moreover, the upcoming Dencun upgrades have boosted market sentiment. This upgrade introduces features such as proto-danksharding and reduced fees. Additionally, the upgrade will help improve Ethereum’s network performance, reduce transaction costs, and improve ecosystem interoperability.

The broader market sees red.

The broader cryptocurrency market experienced a decline during the reporting period, with global cryptocurrency market capitalization down 0.32% to $1.96 trillion.

Bitcoin surged just below its yearly high of $53,000, but quickly fell to $51,268 as of press time. CryptoSlate’s data.

Large digital assets such as Solana, Avalanche, Cardano and Ripple’s XRP recorded losses exceeding 3%. However, Binance-backed BNB coin and Tron’s TRX token bucked the trend and recorded gains of less than 3%.

These price movements resulted in significant liquidations totaling over $291 million from more than 92,000 traders, according to Coinglass data.

Bitcoin led the liquidation figures with a total loss of $75 million. Long Bitcoin traders lost $42 million, while short traders lost $28.46 million. Ethereum followed, contributing $59.1 million to total liquidations, with short-term traders suffering the most losses.