Large investors have seemingly decided to offload a substantial amount of ETH, raising concerns among some analysts that the asset could be gearing up for fresh bearish momentum.

At the same time, the optimists are just as vocal, forecasting a powerful move north in the near future.

The Whales’ Latest Move

Ali Martinez revealed that this group of market participants has sold or redistributed 226,435 ETH over the last 24 hours, marking one of the largest spikes in whale activity recently. At current rates, the stash is worth roughly $430 million, and these investors now control 26.64 million coins, about 22% of the asset’s circulating supply.

Such sell-offs from whales are usually viewed as concerning factors that could spread panic across the community and prompt smaller players to cash out, too. In line with the warning, Martinez said he is paying close attention to the $1,773 level, claiming that a breakdown below could “put the current bullish outlook on hold.”

Another analyst who outlined a rather pessimistic prediction is X user Crypto Lens. They think that ETH is stuck at the $1,860-$1,955 range for a reason, suggesting that the real bull trap is just getting started. In their view, the price may jump as high as $2,000, but shortly after, it might collapse to its final bottom test in the $1,400-$900 zone.

“There’s a chance we’ll wick a candle to update the 2022 minimum and sweep liquidity. I see a lot of hate toward Ethereum – this is done to disillusion the crowd. After that, whales will pump positivity around ETH when the price hits a new ATH,” the analyst concluded.

The Bullish Targets

Martinez has been quite indecisive about ETH lately, and earlier this week he was optimistic about an upcoming rally. He spotted the formation of a golden cross on the asset’s price chart, outlining the $1,980-$2,080 range as the first major resistance zone.

“If bulls manage to clear it, the next key level I’m watching for ETH sits at $2,773,” he said at the time.

MikybullCrypto and Gordon have also shared bullish predictions. The former described ETH as “one of the best plays right now” and projected a 5x move from current levels. The latter claimed that once the price breaks above $2K, “there’ll be no looking back.”

The most optimistic forecast came from CrediBULL Crypto, who believes that ETH is about to finish a multi-year base against BTC and is headed toward an all-time high of $20,000.

The amount of ETH stored on crypto exchanges adds weight to the positive scenario. Today (July 29), the figure fell to a new 10-year low of 15.13 million coins, suggesting that investors continue to abandon centralized platforms in favor of self-custody. This, in turn, reduces immediate selling pressure.

Source: CryptoPotato