Ethereum News Today: Ethereum Whales Bet Big: A High-Stakes Game of Leverage and Liquidation

Ethereum is attracting renewed attention from both individual and institutional investors, with recent market activity highlighting a mix of bullish sentiment and caution. A notable example is a $16.35 million long position on Ether (ETH), opened by an Ethereum whale using 25x leverage at an entry price of $4,229.83 per ETH [1]. At the time of reporting, ETH traded slightly above $4,240, placing the position in modest profit. A 1% increase in ETH’s price would yield approximately $163,000 in profit for the whale, underscoring the scale and risk of the bet. This move is viewed as a confident signal that the recent price correction has reached a short-term bottom [1].

Technical analysis supports the possibility of a near-term rebound. Liquidation heatmaps from Kingfisher indicate a high concentration of short positions in the $4,300–$4,360 range, particularly at $4,336, which could act as a magnet for price action as market makers target stop-loss levels [1]. The whale’s position does not require a major breakout to show significant profit; a rise into the $4,336 liquidity pool could generate over $450,000 in unrealized gains. On the downside, however, a 4.34% drop to around $4,046 would liquidate the position entirely [1].

Ethereum’s price action is also supported by key technical indicators. The 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) has served as a critical support level since July, and it now aligns with the lower boundary of a developing falling wedge pattern on the daily chart. A successful breakout from this pattern could see ETH testing resistance at $4,750, a level approximately 13% above the current price [1]. On the weekly chart, ETH appears to be undergoing a significant retest of its key resistance-turned-support zone around $3,900–$4,000. Analysts suggest that holding above this level could validate a bullish case for Ethereum, with some projecting a potential target of $8,000 if the retest holds [1].

However, Ethereum’s near-term outlook is not without challenges. Outflows from U.S. ETFs tracking Ethereum’s spot price reached $197 million on a single day—the second-highest on record—highlighting investor caution amid a failed attempt to surpass the all-time high of $4,891.70 set in November 2021 [3]. The asset peaked at around $4,776.32 on August 14 but has since retreated to $4,203.84, according to CoinGecko. BRN Head of Research Timothy Misir noted that these outflows, combined with a record surge in unstaking ETH (currently at $3.9 billion pending), are pressuring short-term sentiment [3]. He emphasized that $4,400 is a crucial support level for the second-largest cryptocurrency, and its performance will be key to confirming the validity of the current consolidation phase.

Institutional interest in Ethereum remains strong, with Ethereum ETFs now holding 5.08% of the asset’s supply [3]. The recent Ethereum NYC 2025 event brought together digital-asset executives and financial leaders, where Ethereum was positioned not merely as a speculative asset but as the foundational infrastructure for a future financial system [2]. Tom Lee of BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc., a firm holding over $6 billion in ETH, argued that Ethereum’s programmable smart contracts and growing institutional adoption make it a critical player in the convergence of Wall Street and AI. While competition from faster blockchains like Solana remains a challenge, Lee and co-founder Joe Lubin see corporate treasury programs as a long-term structural solution to Ethereum’s demand issues [2].

Source:

[1] Ethereum whale opens $16.3M long as ETH price eyes bounce (https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-whale-opens-16-3m-long-as-eth-price-eyes-bounce)

[2] Ethereum's Big Backers Unleash Billions to Push Into Wall Street (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ethereum-big-backers-unleash-billions-130704758.html)

[3] Ethereum ETFs Lose $197 Million—Even Worse Than Bitcoin (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ethereum-etfs-lose-197-million-152531921.html)