Ethereum: Can Bitmine’s $197 mln ETH buy spark a trend reversal?

Ethereum [$ETH] has closed at lower lows since the uptrend collapsed at $2382 nearly a week ago, touching a low of $2202.

At press time, Ethereum traded at $2,225, down 1.7% on the daily chart, extending its 3% weekly decline. While the market is on a decline, some market players, especially large entities, have continued to accumulate.

Bitmine adds 89,026 $ETH for $197.64 million

$ETH has recorded relatively poor performance in 2026 despite recovering from the $1.8k slip. Over this extended period, Tom Lee’s Bitmine remained the only strong Ethereum treasury on the demand side.

With the latest purchase, Bitmine bought 89,026 $ETH worth $197.64 million, according to Lookonchain. The entity used four different wallets to withdraw these tokens across Kraken and FalconX.

The latest purchase brings Bitmine’s total $ETH holdings to 2.59 million $ETH worth $11.7 billion, marking a 36% increase in the past 3 months.

Why Ethereum treasuries have scaled back

Interestingly, most of the Ethereum treasuries have stepped back from the market. In 2026, only Bitmine continued to accumulate alongside other alternative purchases in October.

For instance, Sharplink Gaming and Ether Machine last purchased $ETH in October and September 2025. For the Ethereum Foundation, the firm has been extremely active on the sell-side in 2026, with no single purchase.

Source: CoinGlass

These firms stopped accumulating, most likely due to rising losses. The total value of their holdings dropped from $23 billion to $16 billion.

This resulted in over $7 billion in losses since the 2025 peak, discouraging them from continuing to accumulate. Interestingly, losses mount even as $ETH holdings are at a record high of 7.3 million, or 6% of the total supply.

What’s next for $ETH?

Despite Bitmine’s sustained accumulation spree, the entity’s demand has proved inadequate to absorb the rising pressure.

As such, the market structure has shown relative weakness, with short-term momentum turning heavily bearish. In fact, the altcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) fell deeper into the bearish zone, sitting at 41.

Source: TradingView

At these levels, RSI indicates that sellers have dominated the market, reinforcing downside risk. At the same time, $ETH fell below both short-term and long-term moving averages, further confirming this downward momentum.

Taken together, these two indicators suggest a weak market and a continued trend. Therefore, with large entities taking a step back, $ETH risks further losses, falling below $2.2k.

For a trend reversal, $ETH needs to flip the 20/50-day EMAs and close above $2.3k.

Final Summary

• Tom Lee’s Bitmine bought 89,026 $ETH worth $197.64 million, raising its total $ETH holdings to 2.59 million $ETH.
• The Ethereum market remains relatively weak, with treasury companies stepping back from accumulation.

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