Ether whales have been ramping up their ETH buying since the token dipped to yearly lows in April, according to crypto sentiment platform Santiment.
“In exactly 5 months, they have added 14.0% more coins,” Santiment said in an X post on Wednesday, referring to whale holders with 1,000 to 100,000 ETH, valued between $4.41 million and $440.81 million.
Ether (ETH) is trading at $4,376, and is now up 197.30% from its yearly low of $1,472 on April 9, according to CoinMarketCap.
Crypto market participants typically watch whale activity to assess sentiment since sell-offs can signal bearishness, while accumulation can suggest bullishness and expectations of higher prices.
Some ETH whales got caught out by the rally
However, not all whales timed the market well. Some sold near the bottom and ended up chasing the rally back.
On May 22, a crypto wallet spent $3.8 million to purchase 1,425 Ether, after selling 2,522 ETH for $3.9 million in April, when the asset was trading at about $1,570.
Many attribute Ether’s surge primarily to increasing ETF inflows and growing ETH treasury holdings, with the two largest treasury firms — Sharplink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies — making their first purchases in June, when Ether traded between $2,228 and $2,813 over the month.
BitMine, the largest ETH treasury company, now holds $8.22 billion worth of ETH, while Sharplink Gaming holds $3.69 billion, according to StrategicETHReserve.
ETH treasuries now hold nearly 3% of total supply
Ether treasury companies currently hold $15.83 billion worth of ETH, which equates to roughly 2.97% of the entire supply.
Meanwhile, August was strong for Ethereum ETF funds, which saw $3.87 billion in inflows compared with Bitcoin ETFs’ $751 million outflows.
Ether could reach $15K by the end of the year, says analyst
In the same month, Ether reclaimed its 2021 all-time highs of $4,878, reaching as high as $4,934 on Aug. 24.
Some are anticipating Ether’s price to go much higher. Head of digital asset research for Fundstrat, Sean Farrell, said ETH could go as high as $12,000 to $15,000 by year-end.
Related: ETH breakout or fakeout? Traders debate whether Ether holds $4.5K
However, others suggest that most of the market’s focus will eventually return to Bitcoin.
The ETH/BTC ratio, which measures Ether’s relative strength against Bitcoin (BTC), is down 2.27% across the past seven days, according to TradingView.
Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham said in an X post on Wednesday that “Institutions are coming back to BTC.”
“ETFS just sold $135M ETH and bought $332M BTC,” Arkham said.
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