• Ethereum whales increase holdings, but network growth slows.
• ETH gains slightly, but investors hold out for a $4k milestone.

Ethereum[ETH] witnessed a significant uptick over the last few days, despite the rumors of a possible rejection of its Spot ETF approval.

Whale interest on the rise

One factor contributing to the surge in ETH’s price was the activity of large holders.

According to Lookonchain’s data, a significant whale possessing 120,874 ETH, valued at $370.6 million, deposited 15,000 ETH worth $46 million into Kraken on the 20th of May.

This same whale withdrew 120,874 ETH valued at $199 million, priced at $1,647 each, from Kraken between the 31st of August 2022, and the 9th of September 2022, leaving 105,874 ETH valued at $325.3 million.

Consequently, the investor’s profit amounted to $171.5 million.

Problems ahead

The significant whale accumulation could further push the price of ETH to new levels. The price may be able to reclaim $3,500 soon if bullish momentum persists.

However, there may be some challenges that ETH could face going forward.

At the time of writing, the Network Growth for ETH had plummeted, which meant that new addresses were slowly losing interest in the altcoin.

Even though this may help ETH’s case in the short term, ETH needs to be able to attract new addresses for long-term growth.

Coupled with that, the velocity of ETH had also fallen, which implied that the frequency with which ETH was trading at had also declined.

How are holders doing?

Despite the price surge, most ETH holders were unprofitable at press time. This was indicated by the MVRV ratio of ETH, which had declined.

A negative MVRV ratio meant that ETH still had room to grow before profit-taking could take place and a slight surge in price could be expected.

However, the Long/Short ratio for ETH had fallen significantly, showing that the number of long-term holders accumulating ETH had fallen.

Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price Prediction 2024-25

A prevalence of short-term holders could result in a surge in volatility for ETH in the future as they are more likely to sell their holdings in times of uncertainty, whereas long term holders are more resilient.

At press time, ETH was trading at $3,107.09 and its price had grown by 0.67% in the last 24 hours.