Institutional whales have accumulated $350M in ETH since Dec 26 while retail investors remain on the sidelines

There is now a split in Ethereum. While the rest of the market looks on, the big-money players have quietly gone on a $350 million spending spree since December 26.

The money flow index

You can see this pretty clearly in the data. The Money Flow Index, which tracks how money moves in and out, shows that smaller investors aren’t really putting real cash behind these price moves. In other words, when Ethereum goes up, they’re not rushing in to buy.

From December 18 through 24, Ethereum’s price went up, but the Money Flow Index went down. That’s backwards from what you’d want to see. It shows regular folks just don’t trust what’s happening with the price right now.

Retail investors are unlikely to begin purchasing until the Money Flow Index rises over 37, according to experts. It’s still below that as of right now, which raises the question of whether Ethereum can maintain its value without the small players entering the market.

What the charts are saying

Chart users believe they are aware of what the whales are viewing. An inverted head-and-shoulders pattern may be emerging on Ethereum’s chart. It may sound complicated, but it simply means that if specific conditions are met, the price may shift from falling to rising.

There’s another clue worth noting. What traders refer to as a bullish divergence is being displayed by the Relative Strength Index, or RSI. Ethereum’s price reached a lower low between November 4 and December 25, yet the RSI actually reached a greater low during that time. Even if the price hasn’t yet shown it, this typically indicates that selling pressure is beginning to lessen.

But Ethereum’s got some walls to break through first. The biggest one right now is $3,050. Get past that, and the next stop is $3,390.

If Ethereum can punch through $3,390, the chart guys think it could run all the way to $4,400. That’s what the pattern suggests anyway. Of course, things could go the other way too. Drop below $2,800 and this whole setup falls apart, potentially sending prices down to $2,620.

This year, futures trading has been just insane. According to CryptoQuant researcher Darkfost, Binance processed more than $6.74 trillion in ETH futures in 2025. That is about twice as much as we observed the previous year.

Price vs. network performance

As we’re closing out 2025, Ethereum’s stuck under $3,000. The second-biggest crypto is trading about 41% below where it peaked in August. That’s pretty rough considering how much the network itself has improved.

However, the real utilization figures paint a different picture. Ethereum reached a weekly average of over 1.73 million transactions on December 24, making it a record day. It was at its highest point ever. This expansion is being driven by stablecoin transactions, DeFi technology, and Layer-2 networks.

Big players making moves

However, a few major players are taking significant steps forward. On December 28, BitMine Immersion Technologies purchased about 103,000 ETH, boosting their staked holdings to 257,600 coins, or around $750 million. This places them among the largest institutional holdings, with over 4 million ETH in total.

Other prominent figures are pursuing other tactics. Erik Voorhees of Venice AI transferred roughly $5 million in ETH to Bitcoin Cash, while Arthur Hayes has been funneling Ethereum funds into other DeFi ventures.

Tokenization of real-world assets is one element that keeps the bulls enthusiastic over the long run. In 2025, this market surged from $5.6 billion to over $18.9 billion. With more than $12 billion in tokenized assets, Ethereum dominates this market, outperforming rivals like Solana and BNB Chain. Additionally, the network manages stablecoins valued at around $170 billion.

Experts in the field believe this trend has significant longevity. Tom Lee of Fundstrat predicts that Ethereum will reach between $7,000 and $9,000 in early 2026, citing the adoption of blockchain technology by traditional finance. This isn’t simply cryptocurrency hype, as evidenced by the DTCC’s announcement that they will tokenize US Treasury assets on the Canton blockchain.

What happens next

Chart-wise, Ethereum’s stuck in a box between $2,900 and $3,000.

Market conditions are still pretty choppy. More than 40% of ETH holders are sitting on losses, and there’s high leverage in derivatives markets. The Fusaka upgrade went smoothly in early December, proving the technology keeps advancing, but turning that into price gains probably depends on institutional money flowing back in next year.

Whether Ethereum can break out of this range will mostly come down to two things: if big institutional investors start buying again, and if everyday traders regain some confidence and jump back in. Right now, the whales are betting yes, but they’re mostly flying solo.

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