Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Discuss all general (i.e. non-personal) investing questions and issues, investing news, and theory.
Post Reply
Topic Author
elderwise
Posts: 836
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:27 am

Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by elderwise »

So i am just delving into Crypto, what is going is I notice CoinBase (CB & CB Pro) both show

ETH Classic (ETC) the price ATH today 149.75 & current price as of 12:35 PM CST 128.60

Where as Yahoo, and CoinDesk all show its 89$ now

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ETC-USD/

And I know there are only two coins ETH & ETC (Etherium) & ETC Classic.

Please tell me how does this make sense??
txhill
Posts: 628
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2021 12:27 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by txhill »

No one buys ETC so maybe it's a super inefficient market as compared between different exchanges. I guess there's an arbitrage opportunity in there for someone who cares to do it...
langlands
Posts: 1093
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:05 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by langlands »

elderwise wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 12:37 pm So i am just delving into Crypto, what is going is I notice CoinBase (CB & CB Pro) both show

ETH Classic (ETC) the price ATH today 149.75 & current price as of 12:35 PM CST 128.60

Where as Yahoo, and CoinDesk all show its 89$ now

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ETC-USD/

And I know there are only two coins ETH & ETC (Etherium) & ETC Classic.

Please tell me how does this make sense??
Yes, I am also wondering this as someone who bought some ETCG yesterday.
langlands
Posts: 1093
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:05 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by langlands »

Really brutal discount to NAV for ETCG relative to ETC right now.

https://flagticker.com/ETCG.php

Not really sure why.
Topic Author
elderwise
Posts: 836
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:27 am

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by elderwise »

langlands wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 1:57 pm Really brutal discount to NAV for ETCG relative to ETC right now.

https://flagticker.com/ETCG.php

Not really sure why.
is ETCG supposed to be tracking ETC price?

BTW today both coinbase & yahoo and others are showing the same price (~112 ish) of ETC...i really dont get it such a huge arbitrage not just a 10-20$ diff a lot more! like that day I posted one was showing $150 the other one showed max 90$? wth..
langlands
Posts: 1093
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:05 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by langlands »

elderwise wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:40 pm
langlands wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 1:57 pm Really brutal discount to NAV for ETCG relative to ETC right now.

https://flagticker.com/ETCG.php

Not really sure why.
is ETCG supposed to be tracking ETC price?

BTW today both coinbase & yahoo and others are showing the same price (~112 ish) of ETC...i really dont get it such a huge arbitrage not just a 10-20$ diff a lot more! like that day I posted one was showing $150 the other one showed max 90$? wth..
Yes, the main exchanges at least seem to agree on the ETC price now. Robinhood right now is showing $135 while coinbase pro is showing $120 though. The market for crypto can be really inefficient. Like ridiculously inefficient. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of both the FTX exchange and a crypto hedge fund, has gone on podcasts talking about the discrepancy in even bitcoin's price on the Korean, Japan, and US exchanges back in 2017-2018 and how hard it is to actually arbitrage it.

ETCG is the Grayscale Ethereum Classic trust. It's a closed end fund that owns a bunch of ETC, so theoretically it should be roughly worth the amount of ETC that it owns. If you look at the various threads about GBTC, you'll see it's common for these trusts to trade at a premium or discount to the NAV. As an owner of ETCG however, it's just annoying to see a discount of nearly 50%, which seems pretty extreme. Normally, that would indicate something fraudulent might be happening with the trust (i.e. it doesn't actually contain the ETC it claims it does) but the discounts for the main funds seem pretty stable. Also, it's registered with the SEC.
User avatar
OohLaLa
Posts: 459
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:26 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by OohLaLa »

When I was looking into predictable options for Canadians, I looked at the close-ended funds (CEFs) and the ETFs that were available or just about to hit at the time. There was a period where the BTC CEFs were trading at a significant discount but nothing like 50%... that's just crazy.

People who don't know the difference will just see ETC as a legitimate alternative to ETH that is simply cheaper... a better deal!!! I get more of it for my money! <--- very common behavior in purchases

My hunch is that any massive discount on the CEF for ETC is due to:
- ETC being exchanged on things like Robinhood, by people who don't know better or just want to ride the wave. Bigger holders would speculate by directly acquiring on dedicated exchanges.
- Not much interest from the crowd that would go for wrappers like ETFs, CEFs, on traditional brokerages. This includes me, who wanted to get more established coins in a non-taxable account, for long-term holding.
- much like for the BTC and ETH CEFs, with impending (often already announced) ETF options, lack of popularity.

Reasons like this would conspire to depress demand for and thus the price of ETC CEFs... but like you, I find it hard to believe someone didn't wise up and just take advantage of that. It's a crazy discount. [EDIT: only explanation I can come up for this is that there is no strong belief that value will go up for the CEF, which is a bad sign when the discount ranges in the 50% lol]
decapod10
Posts: 1166
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:46 pm

Re: Huge discrepancy in ETH Classic Price?? what is going on

Post by decapod10 »

For clarity for those reading, ETH (Ether / Ethereum) and ETC ( Ethereum Classic) are completely different things at this point. Do not buy ETC (Ethereum Classic) thinking that it has anything to do with ETH / Ethereum. I personally would stay away from ETC completely, but that is just my opinion. At the minimum, make sure you understand what you are buying with ETC. There is no development on ETC. All the decentralized finance, NFTs, etc are running on Ethereum (ETH).
Post Reply