Exchange-traded Ethereum (ETH-USD) funds are expected to begin trading on Tuesday, July 23. The highly anticipated launch should bring massive gains to the price of ether, just as many proponents have predicted, though cryptocurrency investors are clearly not appreciating the full impact.

Indeed, in mid-afternoon trading on Friday, ether (ETH-USD) was down 1.3% from a month earlier. But it is still up about 49% this year, amid a broader rally in major token prices. Its performance has been tender compared to its competitors in the current cycle, which Seeking Alpha analyst Richard Durant attributed to “competition, scaling issues, or [tighter] “Monetary policy.”

In May, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved key regulatory requirements for potential ETF issuers investing directly in ether (ETH-USD). However, the regulator still needs to approve the applicants’ S-1 regulatory filings for the products to launch. Many investment giants, such as BlackRock (BLK), VanEck and Ark Investment Management, are seeking a key first-mover advantage in the race to launch a spot ETH ETF.

“The launch of the ETH ETF would be a strong addition to the cryptocurrency ecosystem as the industry looks to assess the potential impact of the U.S. election later this year,” said Darius Tabai, CEO of Vertex and a former trader at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse.

Given the uncertainty surrounding both events, he added that “it appears the market is not fully factoring in the impact of the ETF and that we could easily see a price increase of 25% or more if a spot ETF were approved.”

Given ether’s (ETH-USD) status as the primary astute contract platform in the cryptocurrency world, any price gains following approval would likely have a more direct impact on the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, he said. “If the move continues, I would expect a larger potential halo effect for [alt coins] unlike the (BTC-USD) launch where alts really struggled to maintain the offering.”

Recall that in January, the Spot BTC ETFs debuted in the US. Since then, the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) has increased by over 40%, which was partly due to the strong and continuous inflow of funds (until recently) into such products.

Mara Schmiedt, ETH expert and CEO of Alluvial, outlined the key similarities and differences between BTC spot and ETH launches. “While BTC ETF spot inflows reached higher than expected levels of ~$60 billion [assets under management] “If we take into account our US target this year, we can expect ETH ETF inflows to reach around 30% of the total BTC market size, or around $20 billion+ at current prices.”

She claimed that the ETH ETF inflows could be well over $20 billion in the first few months after its launch as it is expected to result in greater price sensitivity compared to BTC.

According to Schmiedt, funds holding ether, once admitted to trading, will likely enjoy lower demand than spot BTC funds, in part due to the “lack of an ETH staking feature in the ETF,” Bernstein wrote in a June note.

While inflows are likely to support the price of ether (ETH-USD), outflows from Grayscale Ethereum Trust (OTCQX:ETHE) could initially put downward pressure on it, SA analyst Durant warned. “A similar dynamic played out in Bitcoin, with Grayscale seeing $6.5 billion in outflows in its first month. The fact that Ethereum ETFs will not offer staking rewards to investors may also limit their appeal.”