$8 Billion of Ethereum (ETH) in 24 Hours: What's Happening?

With the Ethereum ETF craze covering the cryptocurrency market like a fog, the activity of large holders is through the roof. More than $8 billion worth of ETH has been transferred between whales, which creates an interesting situation: the activity is here, but the price is not moving for now, consolidating at around $3,900.

This amount of large transactions is remarkable. There have been more than 6,780 large transactions in the past 24 hours and a seven day high of 9,790 transactions, But for all the activity, the price of ETH has been relatively unresponsive.

The chart reveals that there are extremely high levels of transactions being offered up, amounting to an incredible 2.14 million ETH in the past day. This level of transactions is in line with the current hype over an ETF, since institutional interest tends to drive whale behavior. 

The seven-day high for transaction volume was 3.21 million ETH, while the low was approximately 981,530 ETH. The implications of this volatility are that there is an extremely fluid market in which large holders are very much on the move and shaking about, presumably in the hope of signaling impending price movement.

Related

Tue, 05/28/2024 - 18:07

Bitcoin ETPs Go Live on London's Stock Exchange

Alex Dovbnya

Oddly, though the transactions are high in the number of units and in value in many cases, there is relative moderation in price volatility. The volatility index lists a 30-day high of 62.38% and a low of 40.72%, and that means the market, with all of its transactions, is not experiencing big price swings.

If the ETF story continues to play out and more institutional money comes into the ETH space, a breakout higher than $4,000 may become a reality in the future. But, if this action is simply a reprieve to profit, or a redistribution in the face of weakness being perceived below the surface of the market, it may have trouble keeping up its courage.