Ethereum whales accumulated the asset as it surged above the $2,600 mark despite a notable increase in exchange inflows, triggering mixed signals.

According to data provided by IntoTheBlock, the Ethereum (ETH) large holder inflow almost doubled over the past week—registering a net inflow of 97,220 ETH on Oct. 15 which is worth roughly $254 million at the current price point.

An increase in an asset’s whale net flow shows accumulation and vice versa, per ITB.

Meanwhile, the Ethereum exchange net flows also shifted from a net outflow of 5,700 ETH on Oct. 13 to a net inflow of 15,000 ETH yesterday. This movement shows that investors are aiming for short-term profits. 

On-chain data shows that ETH registered an exchange net inflow of $8.88 million over the past week.

This shift would be considered normal given that the ETH price rose from the 2,400 zone and surpassed $2,600 after two weeks of bearish consolidation. 

The chart shows major profit-taking momentum between 14:00 UTC and 15:00 UTC on Tuesday as Ethereum quickly plunged from its local high of $2,685 to $2,540. Roughly $16.6 billion was wiped from the ETH market cap within an hour.

Despite the increased short-term profit-taking, ETH is still hovering above the $2,600 mark at the time of writing. The leading altcoin has a market cap of $313 billion with a daily trading volume of $22 billion. 

Ethereum is still lacking a strong catalyst to continue its upward momentum. The U.S.-based spot ETH exchange-traded funds have also been performing poorly. These investment products recorded a net outflow of $12.7 million on Oct. 15 while the spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs saw a net inflow of $371 million.

Per a crypto.news report, the Australia-based Monochrome Asset Management launched the first spot ETH ETF in the country on Tuesday. The fund currently has only $272,908 in total net assets.