Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) price was up on Wednesday as investors bought into news that the coin’s spot ETF was a frontrunner for spot ETF approval early next year. HBAR price traded at $0.295 at the time of writing, up by 3.5% on the daily chart. That was a substantial gain in a day when the broader cryptocurrency market was down by about $100 billion. In addition, Bitcoin was down by 3.8%.
How ETF approval could impact HBAR price
Bitcoin and Ethereum had their ETFs approved in January and July, respectively. The two ETFs have attracted significant capital inflows, with Bitcoin’s spot ETF market capitalization at $123 billion and Ethereum’s is at $13.89 billion.
Bloomberg analyst, Eric Balchunas posted on his X account on Tueday that HBAR was lined up for ETF approval next year, and would likely come after approvals of a BTC and ETH combo ETF and Litecoin ETF. He added that HBAR stands a good chance of approval because it is not classified as a security. Furthermore, it stands in a preferential position of getting its spot ETF approved ahead of XRP and Solana.
The approval of the HBAR ETF could increase demand for the crypto coin and help drive up the price.
Bullish pennant pattern signals 54% gain on HBAR price
HBAR price has formed a bullish pennant pattern as seen on the 4-hour chart below. Using the pennant’s height (flag pole) as the yardstick for measuring the price target, we get a price upside of $0.155. Adding that to the current price gives an upper target of $0.457. That infers a 54% upside from the current price.
Furthermore, a break above the $0.301 mark could confirm the onset of the uptrend. Also, HBAR price would need to find stability above $0.400 to strengthen the upside momentum. However, a return below the psychological $0.250 could invalidate the upside thesis.