Ethereum showed fresh buying pressure this week after reports that a major Bitcoin whale dramatically increased its Ether holdings, a move market watchers say could reshape short-term flows.

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Major Whale Moves Into Ether

According to reports, one of the earliest and most influential Bitcoin whales bought roughly 820,220 ETH over the course of two weeks, a haul valued at about $3.6 billion at current prices.

The purchases were logged across multiple addresses and have drawn attention because they represent a large transfer of capital into Ether rather than Bitcoin.

Traders say such concentrated accumulation can lift sentiment and draw other large holders into the market.

Ethereum’s latest trading performance has mirrored the big move. At the time of reporting, ETH traded around $4,390, with a 24-hour trading volume of $39 billion and a market cap near $538 billion.

🐳 THIS OG BITCOIN WHALE HAS BOUGHT 820,224 ETH WORTH $3.6 BILLION IN JUST 2 WEEKS.

HE DEFINITELY KNOWS SOMETHING 👀 pic.twitter.com/iG9Su2BGZE

— Ash Crypto (@Ashcryptoreal) August 31, 2025

The token was up 2% over the previous day. Those raw numbers underline that demand for Ether remains high even as some parts of the market pull back.

Derivatives activity tells a more mixed story. Reported data shows derivatives volume fell 14% to $61 billion, while open interest climbed 2.90% to $60 billion.

The OI Weighted metric declined -0.0007%, a small drop that indicates a minimal reduction in positioning strength. According to these movements, dealers comment that the market may be consolidating: less new trades but more positions held.

Ether Price Forecast And Sentiment

Mixing technicals with on-chain data, current forecasts point to moderate upside. Based on the latest prediction, Ether is expected to rise 11% and reach $4,870 by October 1, 2025.

Market sentiment is listed as Bullish while the Fear & Greed Index reads 46 (Fear). Over the last 30 days, ETH logged 47% green days and an 9% price volatility reading. Those indicators suggest a market that has room to run, but which still carries meaningful uncertainty.

Analysts have offered a cautionary note. According to analyst Ted, ETH’s recent outperformance versus Bitcoin may pause for a brief retest around $4,000 as liquidity clusters are swept and traders reassess exposure.

He points to order-book dynamics that often trigger a pullback before new upward moves — a pattern that has played out in prior rallies.

$ETH has been holding up really well compared to BTC.

But there’s still a chance of $4K retest.

Just take a look at huge liquidity clusters and you’ll understand.

Just keep one thing in mind: I’m just short-term bearish. pic.twitter.com/D9XIrxr5zq

— Ted (@TedPillows) August 31, 2025

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What Traders Are Watching

Investors and desks say they are watching three things: the flow of large on-chain buys, whether derivatives open interest continues to rise, and whether price holds above key support near $4,000.

Reports of whale accumulation have sparked talk of rising institutional interest, but the drop in spot derivatives volume shows some short-term participants stepping back to wait.

Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView

US-based crypto ETFs have witnessed a change in dynamics in August, which has seen inflows tipping towards Ethereum ETFs. However, last week’s trend of strong inflows ended with substantial outflows on Friday, with Ethereum ETFs leading the retreat with $164.64 million and Bitcoin ETFs following with $126.64 million. This sudden reversal coincides with an interesting timing of stubborn inflation data that seems to have rattled institutional investors.

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A Sudden Reversal At Week’s End

According to data from Farside Investors, US-based Spot Ethereum ETFs ended the week with $164.64 million in outflows. The outflows came from Fidelity’s FETH with $51 million, Bitwise’s ETHW with $23.7 million, Grayscale’s ETHE with $28.6 million, and Grayscale’s ETH with $61.3 million. BlackRock, on the other hand, witnessed neither inflows nor outflows into its Spot ETH ETFs, alongside 21Shares, VanEck, Invesco, and Franklin Templeton Ethereum ETFs.

Friday’s outflows were a jarring departure from the steady gain that had defined Ethereum’s Spot ETFs since August 21. Ethereum’s six-day inflow streak, which had added about $1.876 billion, was brought to an abrupt end with the outflows on Friday. As a result, total assets under management for Spot Ethereum ETFs dipped to $28.58 billion.

Ethereum ETF Flow: Farside Investors

Meanwhile, Spot Bitcoin ETFs also recorded their first daily decline since August 22 with $126.64 million in outflows on Friday. As a result, their total assets under management dropped to $139.95 billion.

However, not every issuer felt the pressure with Bitcoin. Fidelity’s FBTC led the exodus with $66.2 million, followed by ARKB’s $72.07 million and GBTC’s $15.3 million in outflows. On the other hand, BlackRock’s IBIT still managed $24.63 million in inflows and WisdomTree’s BTCW drew in $2.3 million amid the wider outflows.

Bitcoin ETF Flow: Farside Investors

The underlying cause of the outflows can be attributed to investors digesting the latest data on inflation released on Friday. Notably, the US core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index climbed 2.9% year-over-year in July, the fastest pace since February, creating fears that the Federal Reserve may hold off on rate cuts.

What May Lie Ahead This Week

As a new trading week begins, Spot ETF flow in both Ethereum and Bitcoin is likely to depend on how investors continue to interpret the data. If inflation pressures persist, institutional investors may retreat further at the beginning of the week. However, any signs of cooling could see inflows resume mid-week, particularly into Ethereum, where fundamentals are currently favorable.

On the price side of things, Bitcoin’s hold above the $108,000 price may offer some relief. However, it needs to stay above $110,000 in order for any upside move to gain momentum. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $109,910.

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For Ethereum, a daily close above $4,500 could confirm the return of bullish confidence, whereas a slide below $4,400 might signal further weakness. At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $4,470, up by 1.7% in the past 24 hours.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

A Bitcoin OG holder has accelerated capital rotation from BTC to Ethereum (ETH). After selling Bitcoin’s worth over $3 billion in the past few days to buy Ether, on-chain data analysis shows the whale investor has expedited the process with another ETH purchase on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

Bitcoin OG Buys More Ethereum

According to on-chain data analysis from Lookonchain, the Bitcoin OG, with Bitcoins valued at over $5 billion, sold 4,000 BTCs on Sunday to buy 96,859 Ether, worth more than $433 million. Earlier on Sunday, the BTC whale deposited 3,000 Bitcoins to an exchange, which facilitated the Ether purchase.

On Saturday, the same Bitcoin whale sold 1000 BTCs, valued at over $109 million, and purchased more Ethereum coins through the Hyperliquid platform. As a result, the Bitcoin whale now holds more than 800k ETH coins, valued at around $4 billion, with the majority already staked to earn more rewards.

Institutional Investors Eyes Ether as Bitcoin Demand Wanes

The demand for Ethereum by institutional investors has significantly increased in the recent past, as shown by the notable decline in Ether’s crypto exchanges reserves. On-chain data analysis shows institutional demand for Bitcoin has significantly declined in the past few weeks, with most rotating profits to the Ethereum market.

For instance, BlackRock’s ETHA purchased Ether valued at around $968.2 million during the past week. BlackRock’s ETHA has led the wider U.S. spot Ethereum ETF issuers in purchasing More ETH in August.

According to market aggregate data from SoSoValue, the U.S. spot ETH ETFs have recorded a net cash inflow of about $3.87 billion in August. As a result, the U.S. spot ETH ETFs have now recorded a cumulative cash inflow of over $11 billion since April to the end of August 2025.

Meanwhile, market data analysis from Coingecko shows 11 publicly traded companies, mostly from the United States, have accumulated 3,041,192 ETH for their treasury management. BitMine and SharpLink have led the cohorts with a total Ethereum holding of 1,713,899 and 797,704 respectively.

On the other hand, institutional investors accumulating BTC for their treasury management, led by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, have significantly reduced the purchase intensity in the past few weeks. Additionally, U.S. spot BTC ETFs are about to end August with a total net cash outflow of about $751 million, thus ending their four consecutive months of cash inflows.

ETH Price Rebounds

According to our crypto oracles, the ETH price has rebounded 3% from an intraday low of about $4,340 to reach a range high of about $4,491. Although the large-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $541.5 billion, has dropped around 7% during the past week, it has rallied over 24% in August.

In the monthly timeframe, the ETH/USD pair is about to record the highest close since December 2021. Moreover, the ETH price recently reached an all-time high of about $4,946 on August 24, 2025, fueled by the heightened capital rotation from Bitcoin. According to market analyst alias Crypto Patel, ETH price will rally towards $10k once it clears the $5k resistance level.

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Coingape Staff

CoinGape comprises an experienced team of native content writers and editors working round the clock to cover news globally and present news as a fact rather than an opinion. CoinGape writers and reporters contributed to this article.