In a normal week, there is a ton of Ethereum news to sort through. We have to parse everything from shady ICOs to scaling roadmaps to new regulations. This week, however, was anything but normal.

Only one story mattered: The launch of a Bitcoin futures contract.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) was the first one to carry these derivatives, although the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) won’t be far behind. They will add theirs to the market within days.

Cryptos were depressed leading up to the Sunday launch, as rumors of an epic short swirled around Wall Street. But that short never came to pass. Wall Street bid up the Bitcoin futures, which led to a mirror rally in spot prices.

Furthermore, the successful launch of a futures contract wasn’t just a win for Bitcoin; it was a win for the entire asset class. There was a massive halo effect. ETH prices took flight, rising more than 75% against the U.S. dollar in under a week.

This brought the Ethereum to USD exchange rate to a jaw-dropping $748.66 at the time of writing.

Three months ago, no one would have predicted such a steep incline for ETH (this writer included). It goes to show that cryptos are truly breaking into the mainstream.

Where Does ETH Go from Here?

Ethereum looks well within reach of $1,000 at the moment. For one thing, it could potentially follow Bitcoin into the futures market, a development that would surely send its price skyrocketing.

But that’s only the beginning…

Building out a derivatives market – which allows investors to go short on cryptos—was something the Commodity Futures Trading Commission wanted to see before allowing a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF).

There are a few other conditions (such as building standardized pricing feeds), but the success of Bitcoin futures is a major step in the right direction.

What’s amazing about a crypto ETF is that it would allow pension funds to come off the sidelines. For those who don’t grasp the significance of this, consider that pension funds represent billions of dollars and have a long time-horizon to play with.

In other words, they could boost Ethereum prices to $1,000 without breaking a sweat.

Analitics:

We remain incredibly bullish on ETH, believing that it could hit $1,000 by New Year’s Eve. Beyond that, our Ethereum price forecast for 2018 suggests a minimum of $1,500.