Ethereum Whales Brawl: Are They Bullish or Just Playing Tug-of-War?

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In the grand circus of cryptocurrency, Ethereum’s whales are throwing a tantrum worthy of a toddler on a sugar rush. One group is merrily piling ETH into digital treasure chests, while another is desperately waving goodbye, perhaps to buy a virtual pizza or just because they fancy a change of scenery. It’s a classic case of “long-term vision or last-minute panic?” and the answer, as usual, is probably somewhere in the middle-because who really knows with these folks?

The market, naturally, is about as stable as a house of cards in a hurricane, with ETH slumping over 10% in just a week, making investors wish they’d gone into something safer-like underwater basket weaving or interpretive dance.

What Are Ethereum Whales Doing Amid January Market Pressure?

Data from the crystal ball known as BeInCrypto shows Ethereum has wiped out all its early 2026 gains-gone like a bad joke at a serious conference. The crypto is down nearly 5% this year, stubbornly clinging below the $3,000 mark, perhaps hoping it’s a peculiar kind of limbo or just a stubborn mule.

At the moment, Ethereum is trading at $2,863.66, down a not-so-exciting 2.69% over the past 24 hours. Sounds more like a bad day at the office than a moonshot.

Meanwhile, the whales-those mysterious giants of the deep-are clearly having their own internal debate: “Should we hoard more ETH or sell everything and buy a yacht?” On the accumulation front, Lookonchain reports a whale with the delightful code 0xFB7 bought 20,000 ETH worth a casual $56.13 million. Over five days, this whale, probably with a big black hat and a monocle, has amassed over 70,000 ETH-just your average virtual piggy bank, nothing to see here.

And it’s not just one whale throwing ETH into the vault; last week, Ethereum whales added over 350,000 ETH in a single day-probably to buy a fancy coffee or perhaps to demonstrate that they can still throw around wealth like it’s confetti. Meanwhile, exchange reserves are shrinking faster than a snowman in July, indicating the big players are moving their stash off the shelves, probably to their secret caves long after the summer sale.

In a curious twist of the crypto soap opera, some whales are rebalancing their portfolios-like shifting from Bitcoin (BTC) to Ethereum, much like choosing between a classic novel and a comic book for your bedtime story. One known to President Trump’s cronies swapped nearly $8 million worth of BTC for Ethereum, while another offloaded 120 BTC-about $10.68 million-and used the cash to load up on ETH instead. Because nothing says ‘long-term investment’ like switching horses midstream.

Yet, not all whales are feeling optimistic. An old-timer wallet, 0xb5Ab, threw 50,000 ETH into Gemini (a popular crypto exchange) after being dormant for nine years-probably deciding it was time to cash in on the holiday sales. Fun fact: this wallet originally took out 135,000 ETH when ETH was a mere $90, back when disposable income was measured in cents. Now, with ETH at over $2,800, it’s still holding onto 85,000 ETH worth roughly $244 million-because, apparently, patience is a virtue, or maybe just a really aggressive savings account.

“This address withdrew 135,000 ETH ($12.17 million) from the Bitfinex exchange 9 years ago, when ETH was just a kid in elementary school. Now the price’s 32 times higher, and after depositing 50,000 ETH today, it still has 85,000 ETH in the bank,” explained EmberCN, clearly a master of understatement.

And then there are the “buy high, sell low” whales-those charlatans of the crypto world. Over the past three days, one such wallet shed around $16 million worth of ETH at around $2,912 each, just before swooping up more ETH at a slightly inflated $2,984 five days earlier. It’s the sort of chaotic gambling that makes even Las Vegas look organized.

Ethereum’s Hidden Strength: The Network’s Vital Signs Are Fine, Thanks for Asking

While whales are busy playing their financial game of “keep away,” Ethereum’s network fundamentals are happily humming along-probably humming some sort of bearish tune, but still humming. CryptoOnchain reports that the average number of active addresses per week soared to an all-time high of 718,000-more people than attend some countries’ entire populations.

“There’s a divergence-like a bad sitcom-where network activity is booming while prices are stagnating. Think of it as the crypto version of ‘Is this a sign of trouble or just a bad hair day?’” said the oracle of CryptoOnchain.

This suggests that despite the price having the excitement of a damp sponge, Ethereum’s core activity is alive and kicking-probably because users love DeFi, Layer-2, and pretend they understand all this stuff without a headache.

“History shows that when activity skyrockets even as prices take a nap, it’s often a prelude to upward momentum. Or at least that’s what the crypto prophets say,” added the analysts.

Technical signals also point to a possible upward trek-like a hiker with a GPS confidently marching uphill, ignoring the storm clouds gathering overhead. Enthusiasts are proclaiming that “the worst is finally over,” and Ethereum is now only a few steps away from raiding the moon-if only the market doesn’t get distracted by shiny objects first.

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2026-01-26 10:05