Although traders took a hard hit following the collapse of last month , Ethereum offered some relief in the form of sideways trading markets.
The second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization is essentially flat over the past week. It barely dipped below 3% as traders adopt a risk-off strategy ahead of next week’s FTX Capitol Hill hearings. Ether has shown a notable recovery of 16% since November 22 when it touched a multi-monthly low. This suggests that there is a possibility for an uptrend.
Whales Get More Ether at Lower Prices
While actual on-chain activity is still not impressive, key whale accumulation has been a major factor in Ethereum’s buoyancy. Santiment, a crypto data analytics company, says that Ethereum addresses with 100 to 1m coins have accumulated back about 1.36% of the total supply in the last month (roughly 1.63 million Ether). This cohort added 561,000 Ether, worth approximately $690 million, between December 5th-6th.
It is important that you note that the group controls two-thirds Ether’s total supply. This has helped to reduce bear pressure from traders quitting positions during this crypto winter.
“Due the rise in large address interests in ETH again we can consider this argument as a bullish argument,” wrote Santiment.
Outflows of on the Rise
The Ethereum exchange balances are also falling to support the accumulation narrative. According to the firm the Ethereum supply sitting on exchanges has “failed massively” over the past month. According to “IntoTheBlock,” Ether outflows over the past seven days reached $4.78 billion, compared with $3.92 billion inflows. Even more encouraging is the fact that the 12.1% of Ether traded on exchanges is at an all-time low of $4.78 billion, further supporting bullish argument.
” We don’t want supply moving onto exchanges. This is especially true after the 75%+ drop over 13 months.” wrote the firm. “It’s not to say that future sale-offs cannot be avoided, but it is easier to make a case for us nearing a bottom.”
Despite all the positive indicators, Ethereum’s strong opinions seem to have dwindled. This is evident in the fact that funding rates for ETH remain relatively flat after the FTX-collapse recovery. The market sentiment indicator for Ethereum from “IntoTheBlock”, shows that a majority trader are neutral about the market’s direction. This indicator will need to display either a little greed or fear bias in order to determine how next exchange liquidations will affect ETH prices.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Ether traded at $1,272 as of writing