As long-term holders start to give up amid falling prices, Ethereum is facing one of its worst periods on the market in 2025. Significant volumes of ETH have recently been offloaded by two Ethereum whale addresses, indicating a growing lack of confidence in a short- to midterm price trajectory. The most remarkable of these was a whale that eventually left the market after holding 10,000 ETH for more than 900 days.
The investor decided not to sell during ETH’s historic rally above $4,000, having bought the cryptocurrency back in October and November of 2022 for about $1,295 per ETH ($12.95 million total). But as of today, the entire position was sold for $15.71 million, making a profit of only $2.75 million, which is much less than the $27.6 million unrealized gain at the height of ETH’s value.
An example of holding too long and selling during a downturn is this one. In July of last year, a second whale made a much riskier leveraged play by borrowing $80-91 million in USDT to buy 26,235 ETH at $3,084. In order to pay off a portion of the debt, the whale started unwinding the position on March 11 by selling 25,800 ETH at $1,853. The remaining 5,094 ETH were sold today for $1,471, resulting in a catastrophic total loss of $40 million.
Alex Dovbnya
Technically Ethereum is still trading inside a descending channel at about $1,470. By solidly crossing below the 200-day EMA, the 50-day and 100-day EMAs have strengthened the bearish trend. The fact that the RSI is below 35 indicates that ETH is getting close to oversold territory, but there is not a noticeable reversal in sight. In addition to signaling a bottoming phase when strong hands begin to reaccumulate, these whale capitulations may also be the start of a wider panic.
Caroline AmosunEven though Ethereum’s foundation is still solid, it is nearly impossible to overstate the psychological harm this whale exodus has caused. At the moment, $1,400 serves as a crucial level of support. We might witness a sharp decline toward $1,200 if Ethereum is unable to maintain this. Recovery is still possible, but before any long-term recovery can start, sentiment needs to change and new buying volume needs to come in.
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