Why Ethereum Could Hit $8.5K as Banks, Miners and Whales Buy In

Ethereum (ETH) dropped below the $3000 mark despite institutions and whales starting to return. The altcoin’s performance mirrored that of Bitcoin (BTC), which dropped to the $85,000 zone.

At the same time, the entire crypto market fell below $3 trillion, more than a 4% decline on the day. Whales and traditional finance players from around the world participated actively. Their involvement clearly demonstrated ETH’s influence in global financial markets.

The drop in prices was concerning for leveraged traders who were constantly facing liquidation. With that in mind, where is the price of ETH likely to head?

Institutions Make Huge Purchase: DBS Bank, Bitmine,…

Firstly, DBS, the largest bank in Singapore, increased its cryptocurrency investment. This was an emulation of other banking institutions, especially those in the United States, like JPMorgan.

DBS Bank received another 2,000 ETH worth $6.27 million. The transfer came from Galaxy Digital, according to data from the Arkham analytics tool. This took their total holdings in Ethereum to 158.77K, worth about $500 million at the time of writing.

On top of owning Ethereum, DBS Bank also held 7,861 BTC valued at $706.5 million. This reflected their slow shift into embracing new internet money in the form of crypto. However, DBS Bank was not the only institution involved in this shift.

Tom Lee’s Bitmine, which is an Ethereum treasury company listed on Nasdaq as BMNR, also bought ETH. As of the latest data, Bitmine held well over 4 million ETH tokens after buying 102K ETH in the past week.

Meanwhile, their stock price was up 400%+ on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. BMNR was trading at $34.86, which rhymed with the decline in price of ETH, as they are directly correlated.

Mixed Reaction from Whales: Leveraged Orders Liquidated as Spot Positions Grow

On the whales’ side, the reaction was mixed, as seen from their actions. The spot traders were accumulating slowly, while those leveraged were getting swept as the price stayed in a bear market.

As per a post by Ted Pillows on X, a wallet received $120 million in ETH from Binance. Most of the tokens bought during this period were from funds borrowed in the Aave Protocol. The wallet address activity showed that the whale was more interested in Ethereum than in Bitcoin.

On the other hand, Machi kept getting trolled by the market every time he tried to catch the bottom. Per the recent data, the whale added $250K USDC to long Ethereum but was slapped with the third liquidation.

This move took their total losses to more than $22 million, with another $6.9 million ETH position still in place.

Ethereum Price Prediction: Hidden Bullish Divergence

For the price action chart, Ethereum was holding another bullish divergence. The divergence came as the price made higher highs and lows while the RSI was doing the opposite.

A similar divergence appeared in 2023 and triggered a strong rally. ETH climbed from about $1,800 to more than $4,000 between October 2023 and April 2024.

Javon Marks noted that if ETH reacts to this pattern, it could climb more than 54%. Such a move would push the altcoin beyond its previous peak of $4,900. That way, ETH would enter the path to $8,500.

Whale and institutional activity were in support. However, the liquidations meant the move could be delayed as the market was bearish.

Altogether, the Ethereum price was trading in a bear market. The activities by whales suggested discounted buys, but the price was continuing to decline. Thus, there was a need to stay and wait for confirmations.