The Ethereum price may be under pressure, but large investors are not frightened; they continue to accumulate ETH tokens. While the Ether token price has slipped below the crucial support at $3k, investors and whales are largely amassing the crypto, signalling confidence in ETH’s long-term potential.
This trend has been building for months. Since November 2025, Ethereum has seen consistent inflows into whale wallets, even as prices remain subdued. This gap between steady accumulation and weak price action has sparked significant attention, with the Ethereum price once again coming into the spotlight.
ETH Price Dips as Ethereum Whales Move in Quietly
Currently, the Ethereum price is facing a significant bearish trend. Since the October 2025 market crash, the ETH price has been struggling to maintain momentum despite fluctuations.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Ether is currently trading at $2,918, below the significant support level. Over the past day alone, the altcoin has seen a notable downtick of about 3%. The token is down by a massive 12% in a week and a marginal 0.1% in a month.
This bearish sentiment is further bolstered by the declining activity. Over the past 24 hours, the token has seen a huge 35% drop in trading volume, now at $21.7 billion. This indicates that normal traders are showing less interest in the token, driven by its downward pull.
However, large investors or whales are exhibiting a contradictory sentiment. Even amid the token’s bearish sentiment, Ethereum whales are increasingly buying more Ether tokens. These purchases are happening mostly through over-the-counter (OTC) platforms, away from public exchanges. This signals that big players are taking long-term positions rather than reacting to short-term price movements.
Unveiling Heavy Whale Accumulation
The latest example came just hours before, when an over-the-counter (OTC) whale address known as 0xFB7 purchased more than 20,000 ETH, worth roughly $59 million. As highlighted by on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, the Ethereum whale bought about 20,013 ETH, worth $59 million, earlier today.
Whales keep buying $ETH.
The OTC whale (0xFB7) bought another 20,013 $ETH($59.07M) 6 hours ago.https://t.co/aqq4LVbTPB pic.twitter.com/VqzGDnMiMG
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 23, 2026
This purchase is just part of the whale’s larger ETH purchases. On January 22, the whale brought a massive 10,000 ETH, valued at about $28.9 million. On the previous day, too, the whale had bought another massive amount. They purchased a staggering 20,000 tokens on the day, worth around $58.8 million.
Another major incident reported was about an Ethereum whale who has been trading only Ether for the past two years. As noted by Arkham Intelligence, after making profits exceeding $200 million with his ETH investments, he recently made another Ether purchase. Sources indicate that the investor spent about $60 million on ETH, bringing their holdings to approximately $235 million in both ETH and USDC.
The platform also noted that this whale previously took large positions during the ETH rallies in February 2024 and July 2025. This raises questions about whether a similar strategy could play out again.
Besides whales, large institutions are also increasing their Ether portfolio. Largest public holder of Ether BitMine continues to buy the token even amid the market crash.
These increasing whale activities indicate that Ethereum whales aren’t rushing to exit or sell. This means that they are choosing to hold ETH for the long term, as they remain confident of the altcoin’s long-term potential. They see ETH as a long-term asset rather than a short-term trade.
