With Bitcoin trading in a tight range, the crypto market continues to remain on the sidelines, leading to an uptick in speculation from large investors.
A newly created wallet purchased $32 million worth of Ethereum on crypto exchange OKX at an average price of $3,824, per Arkham data.
The whale’s purchase comes after SharpLink and Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced the accumulation of 203,826 and 19,271 ETH, respectively, last week.
The purchases are worth $792 million and $74.9 million, respectively, with Ethereum currently trading around $3,882, up 1.2% on the day, according to CoinGecko data.
“The newly created wallet’s purchase is likely fueled by digital asset treasury inflows,” Jamie Elkaleh, CMO, Bitget Wallet, told Decrypt, suggesting that the accumulation has also “boosted institutional interest and liquidity.”
The corporate and whale interest in Ethereum stands in contrast to ETF flows.
U.S. Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds drew in a $335.43 million weekly inflow as of Wednesday, but saw a net outflow of $22.80 million for Ethereum over the same period, according to SoSoValue data.
Whales making moves
While Ethereum attracts capital, Solana is seeing significant distribution.
A whale that acquired Solana four years ago has transferred 515,000 SOL, worth approximately $93 million, to Binance over the past four months. The address still holds 828,000 SOL worth $150 million, a tweet from EmberCN, a Chinese on-chain analysis account, noted.
The move “implies a market preference for Ethereum ecosystem plays over Solana,” Elkaleh explained, adding that it suggests “waning whale confidence,” in the asset, “possibly due to scalability concerns or competition.”
Meanwhile, in Bitcoin markets, a whale that opened a 1,107 BTC short position on October 22 closed it a day later, netting $835,000 profit, according to analytics platform Hyperdash. With the close of this trade, the investor has completed seven trades with a 100% win rate, netting over $6.6 million in profits over the past week.
The closure of the Bitcoin short position comes as the top crypto enters an undervalued zone, Elkaleh said, hinting at a “potential bottom if supported by broader market recovery.”