Bitcoin whales awaken after seven years of slumber as they buy up Ether

Recently, more and more cryptocurrency investors may have noticed an interesting phenomenon—Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, continues to fluctuate at a high level and even weaken, while Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, is clearly showing a stronger trend...

Many analysts believe that this divergence in trends appears to be related to large holders shifting their holdings from Bitcoin to Ethereum.

AndLast week, a "Bitcoin whale" that had been dormant for seven years and suddenly reawakened apparently joined the "great shift" within the cryptocurrency world.

It is reported that last week, the "Bitcoin whale" with a scale of over $11 billion sold 22,769 bitcoins worth $2.59 billion (about 18.5 billion yuan), converted the funds into 472,920 spot ether (worth $2.2 billion), and established a long position in Ethereum perpetual contracts worth $577 million on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid.

According to data from blockchain intelligence platform Lookonchain, on Monday, the whale closed out another $450 million worth of perpetual contract long positions when the ether price was $4,735, locking in $33 million in profits, and then bought another $108 million worth of spot ether. Lookonchain added in an X post on Monday that “he currently still holds a long position in perpetual contracts of 40,212 ether (worth $184 million), with a paper profit of more than $11 million.” Data from TradingView shows that over the past month, as large investors’ demand for ether has increased significantly, the divergence between the strength of Bitcoin and ether has become increasingly obvious - the price of ether has risen by nearly 25% during this period, while Bitcoin has fallen by 5.3%.

Cryptocurrency traders often track the movements of whales in the currency circle to judge short-term market trends.

Analysts including Willy Woo pointed out that the rotation of funds by these whales was the main reason for Bitcoin's drop to $112,000 last Sunday. According to Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, the sixth largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by daily trading volume, Bitcoin may continue to lack momentum in the next two weeks, which may see investor funds flow into Ethereum, signaling a new potential all-time high. "Ethereum's breakthrough of $4,300 indicates strong demand in its ecosystem and could kick off a seasonal rally in altcoins," Chen said. "Bitcoin is expected to trade in the $110,000 to $120,000 range over the next one to two weeks, while Ether will perform even stronger, targeting a range of $4,600 to $5,200." Chen pointed to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell's unexpectedly dovish remarks last Friday as a "key catalyst" boosting risk appetite among cryptocurrency investors. "On-chain data suggests a rotation of funds is underway, with whales selling Bitcoin to increase their exposure to Ethereum, further accelerating Ether's momentum," she noted. It is worth mentioning that there have been several trading days this month where the trading volume of Ethereum ETFs has been equal to or even exceeded that of Bitcoin, all of which occurred after a wave of corporate purchasing.