Ethereum spot ETFs flipped a two-day outflow streak on 12 August, and Michaël van de Poppe thinks the timing is not a coincidence. He says the setup for a run at $3,000 is already in place.
US spot Ethereum ETFs turned positive again on 12 August 2026, and one analyst thinks traders are waiting too long for permission to buy. The funds pulled in $7.38 million in net inflows that day, according to SoSoValue, after two sessions of red prints.
Michaël van de Poppe, a Dutch crypto analyst and trader, told his followers on X that the wait for confirmation is the trap.
"The ideal moment to be positioning yourself into $ETH is literally right now," he wrote. He added that everybody is waiting for that ultimate confirmation, "but that never comes."
His argument is based on how Ethereum has behaved after past squeezes. Van de Poppe pointed to a previous breakout that delivered 60% in under a week and to a similar run in 2023.
In a separate post, he described the chart as coiled. He mentioned that ETH keeps making higher lows, volatility is low, and the range is tight. His first target zone in that post was $2,300.
The $7.38 million net inflow on 12 August followed outflows of $1.76 million on 11 August and $14.59 million on 10 August, SoSoValue data shows.
The weekly number is stronger than the daily number as per the data. The week ending 7 August brought $244.94 million in net inflows. Daily prints during that stretch included $92.15 million on 6 August, $60.86 million on 5 August, and $53.75 million on 4 August.
Cumulative net inflows now stand at $11.45 billion. Total net assets across the funds are $10.53 billion, and $358.41 million in value changed hands on 12 August.
BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) is the largest fund in the group by assets, and its flows usually set the direction of the daily total. The smaller issuers rarely move the number on their own.
Ethereum traded around $1,889 on the one-hour chart after recovering from a low at $1,853.62. Buyers have struggled since the rejection near $1,915.
$1,900 is the important level to look out for. A break above it could push ETH to $1,915 and $1,920, with the recent high near $1,930 as the next test. Below, $1,880 is first support.
Coming to the indicators, the relative strength index (RSI) reads 49 to 50, with no overbought or oversold signal. The moving average convergence divergence (MACD) histogram has turned slightly positive. That points to a weak recovery rather than a trend reversal.
Volume is the missing piece. It expanded during the larger moves, but the latest bounce has not brought the same participation. Open interest sits around 2.36 million while price consolidates.
Van de Poppe expects history to repeat. He wrote that a rally to $3,000 could arrive "in a matter of days/week" once ETH clears its range, and that he would not be surprised to see the same expansion play out over the next few months. From $1,889, a 60% move lands near $3,020.
Others are framing it through a different chart. Trader Crypto Rover wrote on X that ETH has consolidated for 38 months in a structure close to the one Netflix stock formed over 40 months before it broke out. That comparison, however, remains a pattern claim between two unrelated assets.
Neither of the analyses carries a guarantee. Ethereum has spent months inside this range, and the tight volatility that sets up a fast move higher can just as easily produce a fast move lower.
Ethereum ETFs are back to net inflows and the weekly trend is positive. But the spot price still sits under a level it has repeatedly failed to hold.
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