diff --git a/cli/sync.go b/cli/sync.go
index 89d2d94f0..18ff24bc2 100644
--- a/cli/sync.go
+++ b/cli/sync.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/api/v0api"
 	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/build"
 	"github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/chain/types"
+	cliutil "github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/cli/util"
 )
 
 var SyncCmd = &cli.Command{
@@ -262,6 +263,9 @@ func SyncWait(ctx context.Context, napi v0api.FullNode, watch bool) error {
 	}
 	firstApp = state.VMApplied
 
+	// eta computes the ETA for the sync to complete (with a lookback of 10 processed items)
+	eta := cliutil.NewETA(10)
+
 	for {
 		state, err := napi.SyncState(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -312,8 +316,10 @@ func SyncWait(ctx context.Context, napi v0api.FullNode, watch bool) error {
 			fmt.Print("\r\x1b[2K\x1b[A")
 		}
 
+		todo := theight - ss.Height
+
 		fmt.Printf("Worker: %d; Base: %d; Target: %d (diff: %d)\n", workerID, baseHeight, theight, heightDiff)
-		fmt.Printf("State: %s; Current Epoch: %d; Todo: %d\n", ss.Stage, ss.Height, theight-ss.Height)
+		fmt.Printf("State: %s; Current Epoch: %d; Todo: %d, ETA: %s\n", ss.Stage, ss.Height, todo, eta.Update(int64(todo)))
 		lastLines = 2
 
 		if i%samples == 0 {
diff --git a/cli/util/eta.go b/cli/util/eta.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de06ec1ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/util/eta.go
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+package cliutil
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"math"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// ETA implements a very simple eta calculator based on the number of remaining items. It does not
+// require knowing the work size in advance and is therefore suitable for streaming workloads and
+// also does not require that consecutive updates have a monotonically decreasing remaining value.
+type ETA struct {
+	// max number of items to keep in memory
+	maxItems int
+	// a queue of most recently updated items
+	items []item
+	// we store the last calculated ETA which we reuse if there was not change in remaining items
+	lastETA string
+}
+
+type item struct {
+	timestamp time.Time
+	remaining int64
+}
+
+// NewETA creates a new ETA calculator of the given size
+func NewETA(maxItems int) *ETA {
+	return &ETA{
+		maxItems: maxItems,
+		items:    make([]item, 0),
+	}
+}
+
+// Update updates the ETA calculator with the remaining number of items and returns the ETA
+func (e *ETA) Update(remaining int64) string {
+	item := item{
+		timestamp: time.Now(),
+		remaining: remaining,
+	}
+
+	if len(e.items) == 0 {
+		e.items = append(e.items, item)
+		return ""
+	}
+
+	if e.items[len(e.items)-1].remaining == remaining {
+		// we ignore updates with the same remaining value and just return the previous ETA
+		return e.lastETA
+	} else if e.items[len(e.items)-1].remaining < remaining {
+		// remaining went up from previous update, lets estimate how many items were processed using the
+		// average number processed items in the queue.
+		var avgProcessedPerItem int64 = 1
+		if len(e.items) > 1 {
+			diffRemaining := e.items[0].remaining - e.items[len(e.items)-1].remaining
+			avgProcessedPerItem = int64(math.Round(float64(diffRemaining) / float64(len(e.items))))
+		}
+
+		// diff is the difference in increase in remaining since last update plus the average number of processed
+		// items we estimate that were processed this round
+		diff := remaining - e.items[len(e.items)-1].remaining + avgProcessedPerItem
+
+		// we update all items in the queue by shifting their remaining value accordingly. This means that we
+		// always have strictly decreasing remaining values in the queue
+		for i := range e.items {
+			e.items[i].remaining += diff
+		}
+	}
+
+	// append the item to the queue and remove the oldest item if needed
+	if len(e.items) >= e.maxItems {
+		e.items = e.items[1:]
+	}
+	e.items = append(e.items, item)
+
+	// calculate the average processing time per item in the queue
+	diffMs := e.items[len(e.items)-1].timestamp.Sub(e.items[0].timestamp).Milliseconds()
+	nrItemsProcessed := e.items[0].remaining - e.items[len(e.items)-1].remaining
+	avg := diffMs / nrItemsProcessed
+
+	// use that average processing time to estimate how long the remaining items will take
+	// and cache that ETA so we don't have to recalculate it on every update unless the
+	// remaining value changes
+	e.lastETA = msToETA(avg * remaining)
+
+	return e.lastETA
+}
+
+func msToETA(ms int64) string {
+	seconds := ms / 1000
+	minutes := seconds / 60
+	hours := minutes / 60
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%02dh:%02dm:%02ds", hours, minutes%60, seconds%60)
+}