Since March, the Ethereum whale has sold over 55K ETH purchased during the 2022 crypto winter. ETH’s price fights to remain over $2,600.
The huge Ethereum whale has maintained its profit-taking rampage as the current ETH price rises beyond $2,600 levels. A few hours ago, the Ethereum “diamond hand” whale sold another 15,000 ETH from its holdings, earning a profit of $40 million.
Giant Ethereum whale cashes out at right time
According to the blockchain analytics firm SpotonChain, the ETH Whale has frequently moved its ETH holdings to centralized exchanges ahead of big ETH price declines. This development comes after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 400 ETH to cryptocurrency mixer Railgun.
Over the last month, an ETH whale moved 25,000 ETH worth $74 million to the cryptocurrency market Kraken on two consecutive occasions.
In the previous 12 hours, the whale traded 15,000 ETH worth $39.7 million at an average price of $2,645. Soon after this movement, the Ethereum price fell by 2.5% and is now trading at $2,591 with a market capitalization of $311 billion.
Last month, on July 25, the same whale moved 10,000 ETH worth $34.7 million at an average price of $3,420, triggering a 7.6% decrease. Despite these large sell-offs, the Ethereum whale still has 41,639 ETH worth $107 million, with an estimated profit of $131 million, 86% more than its purchase price.
This giant whale keeps depositing $ETH to CEX ahead of steep price drops!
In the past month, the whale moved 25K $ETH ($73.9M) to #Kraken on 2 occasions, both times before a significant price drop:
• 15K $ETH ($39.7M) at $2,645 11 hours ago, before a 2.5% drop.
• 10K $ETH… https://t.co/jYDC4wxKWB pic.twitter.com/sAAL2SRjUj— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) August 21, 2024
According to on-chain statistics, the same whale acquired 96,639 ETH from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase during the crypto winter of September 2022 and kept it until March 2024. Following the bull market in March of this year, the whale sold 55,000 ETH for $176 million at an average price of $3,199.
ETH faces selling pressure
The Ethereum (ETH) price remains under selling pressure as death cross patterns build on technical charts, with consecutive rejections at the $2,600 mark. Popular trader Peter Brandt stated that ETH would remain defensive till it crosses the $3,050 threshold.
Charts of continuing interest are Bitcoin and Ether.
Weekly and daily graphs continue to form a megaphone or broadening triangle pattern in BTC
No declaration of next trend yet $BTC$ETH will remain defensive unless/until close above 3050 occurs pic.twitter.com/aEESwhX5oC— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) August 20, 2024
On the other side, the Ethereum gas tax has decreased to a five-year low, resulting in fewer ETH coin burn and hence more ETH supply, which is bad for price action. Furthermore, spot Ethereum ETF outflows have resumed for the fourth consecutive trading session, according to Farside Investors data.
Bitcoin technical indicators ‘improving’ at $59K may trigger short squeeze
According to crypto specialists, Bitcoin technical indicators are “improving,” which suggests that a short squeeze is “inevitable.”
Several of Bitcoin’s main trading measures are flashing positive, prompting traders to move swiftly and cover their holdings if macroeconomic circumstances coincide, according to a crypto expert.
“Technical indicators are improving, and with some traders holding short positions, there’s potential for a short squeeze,” 10x Research head of research Markus Thielen said in an Aug. 21 report.
One of the main metrics that Thielen saw as a sign of progress was Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) “bottoming out” — which evaluates the pace and change of price movements to detect overbought or oversold levels.
Bitcoin’s RSI score is at 61.13 out of a potential 100, down 8% from July 21, according to Bitbo data.
Thielen said that the increase in Bitcoin (BTC) Open Interest (OI) — the total number of Bitcoin futures contracts that have yet to be settled or expire — as the “market went down” on Aug. 5 signals “more short positioning,” as seen by the negative funding rate.
OI has increased by 13.62% since August 6, the day after Bitcoin plummeted to $49,842, its first drop below $50,000 since February, according to CoinGlass statistics.
More future traders are predicting a Bitcoin price increase from its present price of $59,391.
The put-to-call volume ratio, measuring the demand for sell versus buy options, stands at 66.33% calls and 33.67% puts, resulting in a put-to-call ratio of 0.51.
“A massive Bitcoin short squeeze will be inevitable,” pseudonymous crypto trader Mister Crypto said on X.
Thielen said that he does not believe the market is “massively short,” but that short traders may be “forced to cover” if Donald Trump’s “election odds” improve ahead of the November presidential election in the United States.
He feels the market is nearing a turning point, with the US Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to decrease interest rates.
“Such a message could trigger a rally in the stock market, with Bitcoin likely following suit,” he declared.
Mt. Gox shifts out $700M in Bitcoin, first major move in 3 weeks
It’s the largest major Bitcoin move since July 30, but Galaxy’s chief of research believes it’s not for distribution.
Mt. Gox, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange, has just sent around 12,000 Bitcoin to a new, undisclosed wallet address in its first large transaction since the end of July.
Mt. Gox made the move around 11:39 p.m. UTC on August 20, transferring 12,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $709.4 million to an empty address beginning with “1PuQB.”
It also transmitted 1,265 BTC worth $74.8 million to the address beginning with “1Jbez,” which is identified as a Mt. Gox cold wallet by Arkham Intelligence. The money hasn’t moved since.
🛑 Here we go again 👇 Mt. Gox moves 13,265 Bitcoin https://t.co/cNSPM3rOvH pic.twitter.com/uwLfdjaAaD
— HODL15Capital 🇺🇸 (@HODL15Capital) August 21, 2024
The huge move might indicate that Mt. Gox is planning to transfer more Bitcoin to its creditors, who have been waiting for their cryptocurrency since the exchange was hacked and ultimately collapsed in 2014.
However, Galaxy’s chief of research, Alex Thorn, feels differently.
Thorn thinks that just a tiny portion of the monies transferred—$74.5 million—are intended to be disbursed, with the remainder going into “fresh cold storage” still controlled by the estate.
In either event, it is Mt. Gox’s first major Bitcoin move since July 30, when it sent 47,229 BTC to three unknown wallets during a three-hour period.
Arkham Intelligence believes that 33,105 Bitcoin traveled to an address held by BitGo, a cryptocurrency firm that was working with the Mt. Gox Trustee to refund assets to creditors.
Two weeks later, this wallet performed a test transaction before transferring the full amount to another unknown wallet address, where it has remained since.
CryptoQuant data shows that around 68% of Mt. Gox’s cash has been returned to creditors.
only 2.7b from mt gox left
almost there… pic.twitter.com/u660XXKPSm— hansolar (@hansolar21) August 21, 2024
As of the time of writing, Mt. Gox still had a significant quantity of Bitcoin – 46,164 BTC, worth around $2.7 billion.
Interestingly, Mt. Gox creditors appear to have bucked predictions, with creditors reportedly hanging onto their reclaimed Bitcoin.
Bitpanda deputy CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad told Cointelegraph earlier this month that it’s worth remembering that Mt. Gox was one of the first exchanges online, thus those who used it were “early adopters.”
“For them, Bitcoin isn’t just an asset, it’s a technology and an idea that they really believe in. That doesn’t mean they will never sell, but it will affect when they might sell and in what volumes.”
Maria Carola, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange StealthEX, told Cointelegraph that these creditors choose to keep their coins “primarily due to expectations of future price appreciation, aiming for potentially higher returns.”
She added that liquidating their funds right away “could mean significant capital gains taxes,” while holding onto the funds could allow investors to “delay these taxes or await more favorable market conditions.”
