Since reaching its yearly low price of $1,472 in April, ether whales have significantly increased their holdings, adding 14% more ETH to their wallets according to Santiment, a crypto analytics platform.
Santiment’s recent report highlights that whale investors, defined as those holding between 1,000 and 100,000 ETH (valued from $4.41 million to $440.81 million), have steadily accumulated more coins over the last five months.
Ether (ETH) is currently trading around $4,376, marking an impressive 197.30% rise from its April low, data from CoinMarketCap confirms.
Market participants often track whale activity to gauge overall sentiment. Heavy accumulation by such large holders usually indicates bullish expectations, while significant sell-offs can signal bearish trends.
Whale Market Timing and Trading Behavior
Despite the general accumulation trend, some of these large holders missed key moments. Notably, a crypto wallet spent $3.8 million to purchase 1,425 ETH on May 22 after having sold 2,522 ETH for approximately $3.9 million in April at around $1,570 per token, reflecting a mis-timed trade.
The surge in ETH price is largely attributed to growing ETF inflows and increasing treasury holdings, especially by major firms like Sharplink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies. These entities made their initial buys in June when ETH prices ranged between $2,228 and $2,813.
BitMine ranks as the largest ETH treasury holder with approximately $8.22 billion worth, followed by Sharplink Gaming with about $3.69 billion in ETH, according to StrategicETHReserve.
Ethereum Treasury Holdings and Market Impact
The combined holdings of Ethereum treasury companies total approximately $15.83 billion, which is roughly 2.97% of Ethereum’s overall supply.
August was a strong month for Ethereum ETFs with inflows of $3.87 billion, contrasting Bitcoin ETFs which saw outflows amounting to $751 million during the same period.
Future Outlook for Ether
In August, ETH reclaimed its 2021 all-time high of $4,878, peaking at nearly $4,934 on August 24.
Some analysts predict a bullish outlook, with Fundstrat’s digital asset research head, Sean Farrell, suggesting ETH could reach between $12,000 and $15,000 by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, others anticipate that market focus will gradually shift back towards Bitcoin, as reflected by a 2.27% decline in the ETH/BTC ratio over the past week, per TradingView.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham noted that institutions are redirecting interest back to Bitcoin, with recent ETF activity showing $135 million ETH sales offset by $332 million BTC purchases.
