- Ethereum whale dropped $295M to buy 115,465 ETH, now sitting on a $15M unrealized loss.
- If ETH stays range-bound, how long before even smart money starts cashing out?
Ethereum [ETH] saw a 4.60% drop on the 20th of June, closing the day at a significant loss from its $2,522 opening. More importantly, it wicked as low as $2,368, marking its lowest intraday level in nearly two weeks.
And this wasn’t just a technical hiccup. Crucially, BlackRock’s ETH ETF (ETHA) logged its first daily outflow of $19.7 million, snapping a 32-day streak of steady inflows or net-zero activity.
Is this, then, signaling a shift in Ethereum’s reset dynamics? One that’s not the usual leverage flush, but more about patience running thin?
ETH holders hit the brakes
A month ago, ETH tagged a local low at $2,454. Fast-forward to now, and it’s barely up 0.4%, which means price action remains stuck in a tight range, and Q2 isn’t exactly shaping up to finish strong.
In a market this delicate, defending support levels is key to sustaining bullish sentiment. That’s why ETH breaking below the two-week low at $2,368 didn’t go unnoticed.
Instead, it triggered a swift reaction across the board.
Realized profits on Ethereum surged to a monthly high of $656 million, signaling that investors used the breakdown as an exit ramp. They simply locked in gains before the structure weakened any further.
Source: Glassnode
But not everyone hit the exit. According to Lookonchain, a whale who made over $30 million on ETH in the past, just bought another 30,000 ETH (around $73 million) after the price dropped.
In fact, since the 11th of June, this whale has spent roughly $295 million in USDC to buy 115,465 ETH at an average of $2,555. Right now, they’re down about $15 million, but clearly still playing the long game.
The real question is: How long does that confidence last?
Ethereum’s structure faces a stress test
As AMBCrypto noted, Ethereum’s recent price action has underscored aggressive bid-side interest, with leverage wipeouts consistently absorbed by smart money and institutional players.
This is precisely why BlackRock’s $19.7 million outflow is significant. Derivatives liquidity on ETH hit a cycle peak of $41.1 billion on June 11, meaning the market was loaded with bets and risk.
Source: CoinGlass
Whales and ETF inflows helped soak up the initial drop, but now things feel shakier. Leverage is still rising, but confidence isn’t. So what happens if another flush comes and there’s no one left rushing in to catch the fall?
A breach of the next key support zone? Structurally probable. As in this kind of market, when confidence slips and leverage stacks up, things can unravel fast.
