Ethereum sees whales return as big players signal bullish moves

On-chain data showed that Ethereum whales have increased their holdings by 7.6 million tokens since early Q2, representing a rise of more than 52%. According to CryptoQuant data, retail ETH whales also sold off their holdings by 16% during the same period. The shift in Ethereum’s spot order activity suggests that large investors are accumulating the digital asset at discounted prices. According to CryptoQuant analysts, those behavioral changes have also historically signaled potential trend reversals. Current ETH cycle mirrors previous bottoms Higher-than-average spot volumes for executed trades were also observed several times after ETH plummeted to $3,000 earlier this month. CryptoQuant analyst ShayanMarkets noted that the pattern often marks the beginning of trend reversals or late-stage compression phases before major upswings. At the time of publication, ETH is trading at $3,576, down more than 1.1% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum has also dropped by nearly 7% in the last 30 days. “The likelihood of whale accumulation forming a local bottom remains high. This cycle looks similar to previous bottoms, marked by large wallets absorbing sell-side liquidity from short-term holders.” -Shawn Young, Chief Analyst at MEXC Research. Young noted a sign of relative strength, citing the stability of the ETH/BTC ratio at multi-month lows. He also pointed to the 25% surge in daily transactions from September levels and the inclusion of the staked ETH discount after the $19 billion market crash on October 10. The change in Ethereum reflects the recent shift in broader market dynamics, which has been supported by an improving macroeconomic outlook. The change also comes amid the possibility of an end to one of the U.S.’s longest-running government shutdowns. Lia Yuen, an investment analyst at Fisher8 Capital, believes that whale accumulation makes sense, as it’s also evident in Bitcoin. He argued that the shift in whale activity suggests new participants are coming into the market to absorb sell pressure from older participants who believe in a four-year cycle. Yuen also believes that the chances of a local bottom forming for Ethereum at $3,200 and Bitcoin at $98,000 are high if macroeconomic conditions continue to hold up well. He noted there’s still a lot of excitement from traditional finance regarding asset tokenization, suggesting that a supportive regulatory backdrop could provide a further catalyst. Yuen is also confident that a formal crypto market structure bill could help lift Ethereum prices. He argued that greater clarity permeates the market, which ends a regulatory overhang that could be sidelining investors. Fusaka upgrade drives shift in Ethereum whale activity A surge in Ethereum whale activity also stems from the Fusaka upgrade, which is scheduled for mainnet launch on December 3. The initiative is expected to boost the network’s scalability and reduce transaction costs by adding dedicated data lanes for rollups. Young explained that the upgrade is a significant update because the next big thing for Ethereum adoption is coming from real-world applications and DeFi protocols. The initiative is also aimed at introducing Peer Data Availability Sampling. The implementation enables nodes to share smaller data pieces rather than whole blocks, which reduces bandwidth and hardware requirements. Reduced node requirements could also allow more participants in network validation. Yuen maintained a potential trade-off with the introduction of blob lanes and improved blob fees. He argued that it would be cheaper for Layer 2 protocols to build on Ethereum, and also lead to a drop in fees, thus reducing Ethereum burn. The analyst added that if ETH’s current accumulation pattern and the $3,000 to $3,400 region hold as support, Ethereum could enter a consolidation phase that could pave the way for further upside. ShayanMarkets from CryptoQuant said if the region holds as structural support, Ethereum may be entering a low-volatility accumulation zone. He also believes ETH might be setting up for a potential final bullish impulse toward $4,500 to $4,800. The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them .