Abraxas Capital Makes $297M ETH Power Move—Is This the Bull Market’s Starting Gun?

In a move that’s got crypto degens and institutional suits nodding in rare agreement, Abraxas Capital just yanked 297 million bucks worth of ETH off exchanges. That’s not just ’smart money’—that’s ’we’re-not-selling’ money.

Why this matters: Whale withdrawals at this scale typically precede major price rallies. When the big players stop parking coins on exchanges (read: stop preparing to dump), the market usually follows their lead upward.

The cynical take: Of course this happens right after Wall Street’s latest ’crypto is dead’ report. Nothing makes trad-fi analysts miss a trend faster than seven-figure blockchain transactions.

Ethereum futures and volume

The withdrawals occurred as ethereum saw a 20% rise in futures open interest and a 184% jump in trading volume, per Coinglass. At the same time, over $265 million in short positions were liquidated, accelerating the price move.

Though ETH has gained 54% in the last month, it remains down 26% for the year. However, analysts at CryptoQuant point out that Ethereum is now at its most undervalued level relative to Bitcoin since 2019, based on the ETH/BTC MVRV ratio.

Abraxas Capital’s operations highlight the increasing involvement of institutions in the Ethereum markets. Established by Fabio Frontini in 2002 with the aim of creating a top-tier asset management firm, Abraxas Capital Management has focused on digital assets since 2017, quickly rising to become a global leader in the field.