US whales are buying ETH again, raising the Coinbase premium

Ethereum (ETH) is once again showing indications of spot buying. Anonymous whales are still active, but this time, some of the buying can be traced to the US market based on the ETH Coinbase premium.

Ethereum (ETH) showed accelerated accumulation, with US-based whales driving the trend. The Coinbase premium, which remained significant in Q2, shot up to levels not seen since January.

The Coinbase premium spiked in the past day, rising to its highest level in months, as US-based whales accelerated their buying. | Source: Cryptoquant

As ETH moved to a higher price range, whale accumulation continued. Based on CryptoQuant data, the ETH rally coincided with highly active buying from Coinbase, increasing the ETH premium.

ETH has not yet reached premium levels comparable to the last quarter of 2024, when US-based trading was also driven by hype and the effect of the Presidential elections. Usually, the Coinbase premium is short-lived, taking a few weeks to revert to baseline. This time, ETH held a slight premium for the past few months, coinciding with a period of silent whale accumulation.

ETH exchange reserves stay near lows

The recent buying keeps the reserves on Coinbase Advanced near their all-time lows. Around 4.8M ETH is available on Coinbase for whale buyers, while all spot exchanges carry around 9M ETH. The depleted reserves follow a recent statement from Wintermute that the market maker had depleted its OTC desk.

The low reserves are due to increased spot demand, as ETH is now seen as a store of value. Additional demand may come from the requirement for ETH collaterals on exchanges or lending protocols. Demand for covering leveraged positions increased as ETH derivative open interest expanded in the past week.

While the supply of ETH is not scarce, sellers may not be ready with sufficient, freely available supply. A significant part of ETH is not freely available, as it is locked for staking, liquid staking and other DeFi vaults or liquidity pools.

Individual whales return for more ETH

ETH buying continues, with some notable whales making moves in the past 24 hours. On-chain data shows two whales acquired more than 13,000 ETH, entering the market at $3,448.

Whales Are Accumulating $ETH

– Whale,”0x52e,” has spent $36.5M $USDT to buy 10,587.4 $ETH at $3,448.

– Whale, “0xdfc,” has spent $9.98M $USDT to buy 2,895 $ETH at $3,448.

Addresses:

– 0x52e02f0a43ea757d3c8b78745c99d8ddc33bfa26
– 0xdfcaf20a17521a761036af8a3a758fcdd91dfc07… pic.twitter.com/3bECoQCwZG

— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) July 18, 2025

Whale moves like this are similar in value to corporate buyers’ activities. The anonymous whale demand followed SharpLink Gaming, which added another 18,712 ETH to its treasury.

Whales are also not fully absorbing all available ETH, with some wallets sending tokens to exchanges to lock in profits. Whale accumulation was notable in May and June, as whales were buying at a lower average price. Over the past months, whale sentiment was also more bullish on ETH, while retail traders had mostly abandoned the network.

Ethereum also shifted its use case, after meme tokens shifted to other networks while gaming and NFTs lost their user base. Currently, Ethereum carries high-value DeFi activity and is one of the biggest lending and liquidity hubs. Ethereum’s network is also key in carrying stablecoins, supporting the most liquid versions of USDT and USDC.

In the past few hours, whales sent back tokens to OKX and Coinbase Institutional, with the largest transaction for 20,908 ETH.

On derivative markets, whales are also taking sides. Hyperliquid counted 321 large-scale ETH positions, with 301 whales taking long trades and 319 attempting to short ETH.

Source