Ether Whales Accumulate Amid Price Slump

According to Cointelegraph, large holders of Ether, known as whales, have been accumulating the cryptocurrency despite its recent price decline. Over the past four days, these whales have acquired more than 200,000 Ether, valued at over $540 million, based on data from CryptoQuant shared by analyst Satoshi Sniper on August 26. This accumulation comes even as Ether's price fell by over 4% in the 24 hours leading up to August 27, trading at $2,627. The buying patterns of these large holders are often monitored by traders to gauge market sentiment, as whale transactions can significantly influence an asset's price due to the substantial capital involved. Despite the sluggish price momentum, Ether whales continue to accumulate, even as Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States experience significant outflows. Since their launch, the nine US Ether ETFs have seen cumulative net outflows of $478 million, approaching the $500 million mark this week, according to Farside Investors data. Grayscale’s ETHE ETF has accounted for most of these outflows, selling $2.5 billion worth of Ether since the ETFs were launched on July 23. Investors had anticipated a significant price increase following the launch of the Ether ETFs, similar to the impact seen with Bitcoin ETFs, which accounted for about 75% of new investment in Bitcoin by February 15 as it surpassed the $50,000 mark. However, the cumulative trading volume of Ether ETFs suggests that demand from traditional investors has not yet materialized. Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia International, noted that last week, ETH spot ETFs traded a cumulative $830 million, indicating significantly lower trading activity compared to Bitcoin, even when adjusted for market capitalization. This suggests that traditional finance investors have not yet shown sustained demand for financial products tied to Ethereum. Despite the continued outflows from Ether ETFs, some analysts believe that Ether's price bottom may be in. Popular market analyst CryptoBullet expects the bottom to hold as long as Ether remains above the $2,500 mark. In an August 18 post, the analyst suggested that Ether could see a rally soon but may need to consolidate around the 0.618 Fibonacci level and MA100 for a few weeks. Another analyst, Titan of Crypto, indicated that Ether could be setting up for a rally to the $3,000 psychological mark, based on the gap observed on the ETH CME Futures 4H chart.