Ethereum Whales Dive Back In: Buying the Dip Signals Major Confidence Shift

When the market trembles, the giants move. Ethereum's largest holders—the so-called 'whales'—are making waves again, accumulating ETH during recent price dips. This isn't just trading; it's a calculated bet on the network's long-term trajectory.

The Whale Watch Is On

Forget retail sentiment. When wallet addresses holding thousands of ETH start scooping up more, it's a signal the smart money sees value others might miss. These moves often precede broader market shifts, acting as a leading indicator for where institutional confidence truly lies.

Beyond the Price Chart

Whale accumulation tells a deeper story than a simple buy order. It reflects conviction in Ethereum's core fundamentals—its developer ecosystem, its roadmap toward greater scalability, and its entrenched position as the home for decentralized finance and digital assets. They're not buying a ticker; they're buying a foundational layer of the new internet.

A Cynical Note from Finance

Of course, in traditional finance, this would be called 'insider buying' and trigger a regulatory filing. In crypto, it's just another Tuesday—transparent on the blockchain for anyone to see, yet often interpreted only after the fact by those who missed the memo. The old guard still struggles with that kind of radical transparency.

The bottom line? When whales feed, the entire ecosystem pays attention. Their re-entry suggests a belief that current prices don't reflect the underlying asset's future—a powerful contrarian signal in a market driven as much by narrative as by code.

The ETH purchases happen through both exchanges and OTC markets. One of the recent buyers acquired ETH through an OTC desk, later moving the tokens to Lido for liquid staking. The whale acquired ETH through Wintermute’s OTC desk, which did not help the token on the open market. 

For now, ETH remains range-bound, meaning some whales can use liquid-staked tokens to secure loans and buy more ETH. The MOVE is relatively risky for liquidations, but more experienced users are managing the risk. 

Liquid staking has been growing in the past weeks, recovering from local lows. As of January 26, liquid staking protocols hold over $43B in value locked. 

World Liberty Fi returns to buying ETH

World Liberty Fi is actively trading its portfolio, switching from BTC to ETH positions. The known wallet of World Liberty Fi is switching up DeFi positions for wrapped tokens. 

Recently, WLFI switched from WBTC to ETH, going through the CowProtocol router. The wallet performed several trades, leaving WLFI with over 22K ETH. For now, the tokens have not been sent back to staking. 

WBTC has generally decreased its balance to 125.33K, as it lost its weight in decentralized finance. Yield for WBTC on Aave is also extremely low, while ETH is more usable within the DeFi ecosystem. 

OG whale goes long on ETH

The whale that shorted the market on October 10 is now stuck with a large-scale long position. The recent whale activity showed confidence in ETH returning to growth, but left the trader with large unrealized losses of over $779M. 

In addition to the Hyperliquid positions, the OG whale has also created a borrowing loop for ETH. 

Recently, a new wallet linked to the same whale withdrew ETH from Binance, deposited it to Aave, and continued buying with borrowed funds. The move shows significant confidence in ETH retaining its price range and not leading to liquidations. 

Despite the downturn, ETH sentiment remains neutral at 40 points. ETH open interest is inching up to $16.28B from a local low of $15.78B. More than 75% of traders are going long and are threatened by liquidations during a downturn. On Hyperliquid, only 51% of whales are long on ETH, betting on a deeper downturn. 

ETH has seen an outflow of retail users, but whales and large-scale stakers are still a major source of buying and activity. Retail sentiment remains lower, but accumulation and DeFi usage remain at relatively high levels.

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