The crypto market saw a massive sell-off, with market cap falling 3% as per CMC data. Altcoins were hit the hardest in this wave, including Ethereum [ETH].
Ethereum fell from $2788 and plunged to a low of $2635, then slightly rose to $2692 at press time. The price drop turned into a bloodbath, especially for longs.
Ethereum saw over $96 million worth of longs liquidated, with total liquidations hitting $114 million, triggering panic and fear across the market.
As a result, investors hurriedly closed their positions, including whales, which further intensified the downside pressure.
Ethereum whale offloads $111 million worth of ETH
As ETH declined, it seemed some whales panicked and started to exit the market. Lookonchain reported that an OTC whale sold 42,005 ETH worth $111.89 million and now has 9,996 ETH worth $26.8M left.
This whale has earlier been accumulating and attempting to chase the recent rally. The decision to exit after holding for a few days suggested fear, mostly related to the trend’s sustainability.
Interestingly, the whale was not an isolated case, as the broader whale market behavior seems to have flipped to distribution. As earlier reported by AMBCrypto, some whales have been accumulating, even rotating from BTC to ETH.
Although some whales have been accumulating, driving the number of whales to 211 this week, those selling also jumped to 219. The whale whale behavior suggests that these key players are noy yet fully convinced of the trend prompting them to behave speculatively.
That’s said, exchange activity is also echoing this whale behavior. Ethereum Exchange Netflow had been held negative for five consecutive days but turned positive at press time.
The Netflow rose to 10.6k ETH, suggesting a significant share of supply flowed into exchanges. This rising netflow points to short-term pressure, with sellers exiting, fearing another drop.
Is this cause for concern?
Whale demand has in the past been a major driver of market direction. Ethereum whales have recently shown less motivation to hold the market and continually cashed out at the slightest inconvenience.
That said, the whales turning to a speculative market approach is a major obstacle that ETH needs to address. However, it’s worth noting that buying whales is also growing, which gives some hope for the market.
Looking at the days ahead, Ethereum’s next move will be highly influenced by whale conviction. If the rising number of accumulating whales finally flips distributors, we could see a rebound.
From a technical point of view, ETH now eyes to decisively close above $2.7k and doing so, will be a clear pass for anticipated $3k.
Final Summary
- An Ethereum whale panicked and exited, selling 42,005 ETH worth $111.89 million.
- ETH fell to a low of $2.6, triggering a wave of liquidations with over $96 million worth of longs flushed out.