Ethereum, dubbed as the “king of all altcoins” and the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, managed to trim its recent losses as it continues to struggle in this extended crypto winter.
Based on tracking CoingeckoEthereum trades at $1,332.18, up 2.1% in the last 24hrs and 3.2% during the week.
However, the digital asset continues to perform poorly considering its current low of $4,878 (November 10, 2021).
The altcoin’s trading day opened on this date last year with a price of $3.848, almost three times its current value.
Additionally, Ethereum has suffered a significant price drop, with 26% off its $1,773 September 10 price.
Although the price of crypto and other digital currencies is not prone to falling due to market volatility, experts believe that the recent drop in Ethereum’s value may be attributable to large investors.
Ethereum Whales collectively dump
Santiment, a crypto market intelligence platform, shared via Twitter on October 16th that Ethereum sharks have been abandoning their altcoin holdings for five weeks.
According to the data released, these big investors dumped a total of 3.3 million ETH tokens with a total value of $4.3 billion based on the crypto’s current trading price.
🐳🦈 #Ethereum‘s shark & whale addresses (holding 100 to 1M $ETHThe ), have fallen 3.3M $ETHThese are the 5 most recent weeks. That’s approximately $4.2B worth of dumped coins. The asset’s price vs. #BitcoinBased on the behavior of key stakeholders, has fluctuated and ebbed. https://t.co/1L2iGaoxzg pic.twitter.com/jDkSzS6Vyk
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) October 16, 2022
Ethereum sharks, also known as whales, are those that have 100 to 1,000,000 ETH Coins.
This development has proven that the theory of crypto whales, or the largest investors, affecting the market in large quantities through their accumulation and dumping activities is true.
Important to remember is that Ethereum owners were selling their assets at the same time as the price of the currency plummeted.
There is no need to panic yet
Things are not looking good for Bitcoin’s top rival, but some experts believe it is not yet time to push the panic button as there are upsides to this development.
Some analysts say the same holders that dumped their Ethereum holdings might try to push the asset’s price higher than what was seen of it last month.
The ETH sharks, whales, and ETH traders now have a lower number of tokens than the $1,400 they owned when it traded. Perhaps they will try to purchase any remaining assets.
This scenario could be what ETH holders are aiming for in their forecasts. CoincodexOver the next five working days, the crypto fell to $1.221
As the 30 day prediction places ETH trading prices at $909.14, November will bring even more difficulty to crypto.
Image from Forbes. Chart: TradingView.com| Featured image from Forbes, Chart: TradingView.com Disclaimer: The author's analysis should not be taken as investment advice.