Whales buy $832M ETH during dip; futures show short-covering
Whales bought about 360,000 ETH (~$832M) during a May 10 dip. Perpetual futures open interest fell while funding rates stayed elevated.
Whales added about 360,000 ETH, roughly $832 million at current prices, during a price decline that began on May 10, Santiment data show. Whale wallets outside exchanges rose from about 124.69 million ETH to roughly 125.05 million ETH over the period.
Ethereum’s price fell 3.6% across two days starting May 10. On the daily chart ETH traded near $2,311, down about 1.2% on the day, and remained inside a descending channel that has held since the April 17 high.
Perpetual futures open interest declined from $12.46 billion on May 7 to $11.98 billion on May 12, a drop of roughly $480 million, according to market data. Funding rates for perpetual swaps stayed near 0.012%, up from about 0.010% on May 7. The lower open interest and steady positive funding occurred while the whale purchases took place.
Long-term holders reduced their rate of accumulation over the same period. Glassnode’s hodler net position change peaked at 383,128 ETH on April 27 and fell to 77,675 ETH by May 11, a decline of about 80%. Long-term wallets remained net buyers but at a markedly slower pace than in late April.
Technical levels on daily charts placed $2,298 at the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the recent pullback. Whale buying coincided with price holding above that level. A daily close below $2,298 would leave $2,269, the 61.8% retracement, as the next reference point. Additional support levels include $2,227 and $2,174. On the upside, reclaiming $2,327 would move the chart toward neutral, and a move above $2,363 would open a short-term target near $2,422.
Data cited in this report come from Santiment and Glassnode, with price levels from public chart analysis.
