Ethereum price recovers slightly as whales begin accumulation spree

Ethereum's recent price movement has shown that it's still significantly correlated with Bitcoin.
Whales are accumulating Ethereum, with the aim to participate in the ETH restaking boom.
The SEC's recent Wells notice to decentralized exchange Uniswap could affect Ethereum, considering it is home to a large portion of DeFi.

Ethereum (ETH) showed signs of recovering its bullish momentum on Thursday, briefly rising to $3,618 as whales entered a buying spree. Despite the movement from whales, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wells notice to Uniswap could affect Ethereum in the long run.

Daily digest market movers: Whales accumulation, Bitcoin correlation, Wells notice

Ethereum joined a host of other altcoins in trading in the green on Thursday after two days of sustaining a bearish move. Here are your key market movers for the largest smart contract blockchain:

After ETH's slight increase on Thursday, large ETH whale Ox347 deposited 9000 ETH tokens to Binance at $3,560 in a bid to book profits, according to onchain insights from Spot On Chain. Although this is the whale's largest ETH deposit to date, its address still holds 29,738 ETH worth a whopping $106 million with an estimated profit of $68.5 million.
Despite the profit-taking from whale Ox347, onchain data from Lookonchain indicates that some other whales are taking opposite actions:

Whale 0x4359, who had earlier bought 10,309 ETH ($35.82 million) at the bottom of the price drop on Wednesday, withdrew another 3,092 ETH ($11.12 million) from Binance on Thursday. As a result, his total ETH withdrawals from Binance in the past three days have reached 24,044 ETH ($86.5 million).

Another whale, 0xACc7, withdrew 22,251 ETH ($80.06 million) from exchanges on Thursday, taking their total exchange withdrawals in the past three days to 33,925 ETH ($122.06 million).

Some crypto community members have speculated that the whales' recent move may be to participate in the restaking boom that's heating up in DeFi, especially with the Mainnet launch of EigenLayer. Data from Lookonchain confirms this as whales/institutions withdrew ETH from Binance and staked it into Pendle and Bedrock.

Whales/Institutions withdrew $ETH from #Binance and staked it into #Pendle and #Bedrock today.

0x1958(related to #Fenbushi Capital) withdrew 7K $ETH($24.5M) from #Binance and staked it into #Pendle.https://t.co/jMvAKPRvyn

Whale"0xaF35" withdrew 6.7K $ETH($23.4M) from #Binance… pic.twitter.com/Ae4wOTqNdV
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 11, 2024

While the recent price increase may have several factors layered in, it shows Ethereum still maintains a significant correlation with Bitcoin (BTC). Like several other large-cap altcoins, Ethereum's price movement has largely mimicked Bitcoin's since the beginning of the year. Hence, the Bitcoin halving – less than eight days away – could prove critical in determining ETH's price movement in the coming days.
On Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Ethereum's largest decentralized exchange, Uniswap. The Wells notice, a formal document indicating the SEC's intention to take legal action against an individual or firm, was issued based on claims that Uniswap operated as an unregistered securities broker and exchange.

If the SEC succeeds in taking legal action against Uniswap, it could significantly affect the broader DeFi landscape. This would have telling effects on Ethereum, the underlying home to roughly 80% of DeFi solutions. Earlier in March, the SEC had issued subpoenas to three firms that had dealings with the Ethereum Foundation. Many crypto community members have stated that the SEC aims to classify Ethereum as a security.

Also read: Ethereum could be set for growth as Vitalik Butein shares update on its future

Technical analysis: ETH may continue sideways movement

ETH's price has been following a sideways pattern after recovering from the one-week correction that followed the high of $4,094 on March 11. While traders expected a rally back to the $4,094 high when ETH tagged the key resistance of $3,730 on Monday, the price retraced. The continued sideways move indicates traders are exercising caution and are indecisive on whether to go long or short.

ETH/USDT 4-hour chart

The constant switch between increased long and short liquidations in the past two weeks confirms this indecision. ETH may continue this sideways movement until key events like the Bitcoin halving and the SEC's spot ETH ETF approval decision take place. However, a bearish trend may begin if the price breaks key supports of $3,210 and $3,056 formed on April 5 and March 20, respectively.

Ethereum is trading at $3,500, up 0.8% at the time of writing.

Ethereum FAQs

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain with smart contracts functionality. Serving as the basal network for the Ether (ETH) cryptocurrency, it is the second largest crypto and largest altcoin by market capitalization. The Ethereum network is tailored for scalability, programmability, security, and decentralization, attributes that make it popular among developers.

What blockchain technology does Ethereum use?

Ethereum uses decentralized blockchain technology, where developers can build and deploy applications that are independent of the central authority. To make this easier, the network has a programming language in place, which helps users create self-executing smart contracts. A smart contract is basically a code that can be verified and allows inter-user transactions.

What is staking?

Staking is a process where investors grow their portfolios by locking their assets for a specified duration instead of selling them. It is used by most blockchains, especially the ones that employ Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism, with users earning rewards as an incentive for committing their tokens. For most long-term cryptocurrency holders, staking is a strategy to make passive income from your assets, putting them to work in exchange for reward generation.

Why did Ethereum shift from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake?

Ethereum transitioned from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism in an event christened “The Merge.” The transformation came as the network wanted to achieve more security, cut down on energy consumption by 99.95%, and execute new scaling solutions with a possible threshold of 100,000 transactions per second. With PoS, there are less entry barriers for miners considering the reduced energy demands.

Share: Cryptos feed

Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.

If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.

FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.

The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.

Join Telegram