- Ethereum is down more than 5% in the past 24 hours to trade below $2,600 as altcoins show weakness.
- The top altcoin’s dip to lows of $2,560 on Tuesday however comes amid massive whale activity, most of which has happened in the last few hours.
Whales dump Ethereum
On August 27, 2024, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 199.9 ETH worth over $517,000 to a multi-signature wallet. Details suggest a donation to ethos, a project that says its building an Ethereum mobile operating system.
While notable, this transfer pales in comparison to some of the largest whale movements seen in the past 24 hours.
Earlier in the day, Lookonchain pointed out a potential $49 million dump by a whale who had moved 19,000 ETH to Coinbase. The whale initially requested to transfer over 30,000 stETH – the staked ETH token, with this withdrawals amounting to over $78.67 million at the time.
A whale is selling 19,000 $ETH($49.17M)!
This whale requested a withdrawal of 30,007 $stETH($78.67M) 4 days ago and claimed 19,000 $ETH($49.17M) 30 minutes ago.
And the whale is depositing the 19,000 $ETH($49.17M) to #Coinbase to sell!https://t.co/bujNxac1Kf pic.twitter.com/ndB9Ow5hxM
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 27, 2024
Lookonchain has also highlighted another whale who has exchanged more than 4,591 stETH for 4,589 ETH, taking a 2.3 ETH loss just to have the tokens available immediately for sale. On-chain data shows the whale address has deposited 5,145 ETH tokens to Binance. This deposit and potential sale was worth over $13.3 million at the time of the transfer.
ETH whale dumps altcoin to avoid liquidation
But that’s not all. Two whales also sold 8,208 ETH worth over $21.5 million as the Ethereum price hovered at $2,630. According to on-chain analysis, the whales moved to dump their Ether for funds to repay debts on decentralized lending protocol Aave. The whales sold to “avoid being liquidated”, Lookonchain noted.
Whale dumping has also happened at a loss in the past 24 hours, with one large holder selling 5,088 ETH for $13.58 million. The whale made a loss of $3.66 million after having moved the coins off Binance in March and April this year, with the value of the holdings at around $17.24 million.
In total, whales have dumped over $96 million worth of ETH in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum price falls below $2.6k
The price of Ethereum rose to highs of $2,808 on August 24, riding a bullish flip that also saw Bitcoin (BTC) break above $64,900.
Ethereum price chart. Source: TradingView
However, ETH has seen a downturn that currently has price hovering below $2,600. Indeed, the leading cryptocurrency fell to lows of $2,558 on Coinbase, with the RSI and MACD on the daily chart suggesting bears have the upper hand.
