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This weekend, crypto whales massively liquidated altcoins. Ethereum, PEPE, LINK, SOL… millions of dollars moved, sometimes to exchanges. Does this movement indicate a simple profit-taking or a sudden market reversal?
In Brief
- Crypto whales liquidated millions of dollars worth of altcoins over the weekend, mainly targeting ETH, PEPE, LINK, and SOL.
- A historic Ethereum whale has sold 25.23 million dollars of ETH since May, with a profit of over 8,000%.
- Massive transfers to exchanges suggest either a profit-taking strategy or anticipation of a correction.
- Despite these sales, some analysts maintain their mid-term bullish forecasts for the crypto ecosystem.
Ethereum at the Heart of the Institutional Selling Storm
This weekend marked a turning point in the activity of crypto “whales.” These holders of colossal wallets orchestrated an unprecedented wave of sales, mainly affecting the Ethereum ecosystem and several major altcoins.
The star of these movements remains a legendary address holding one million ETH since the 2015 ICO. This “sleeping whale” recently liquidated 991.67 ETH for 2.51 million dollars.
Since May 26, it has offloaded a total of 9,845.96 ETH, pocketing 25.23 million dollars. Its initial acquisition cost? Only 0.31 dollars per ETH. A profit of over 8,000% perfectly illustrates the rewarded “hodl” strategy.
This programmed sale follows a pace of 1,000 ETH per week. At this rate, the whale could maintain this pressure for years.
In any case, it is a methodical exit strategy. It avoids crashing the market abruptly while maximizing gains.
Meanwhile, other significant movements have fueled concern. A whale inactive for four years suddenly transferred 4,949.63 ETH to a centralized platform.
Another withdrew 10,708 ETH from Lido to send them directly to OKX. These transfers to exchanges generally signal an intent to sell imminently.
The Shockwave Spreads to Major Altcoins
Sales were not limited to Ethereum. The altcoin ecosystem also experienced significant pressure, revealing coordination in the exit strategies of major crypto fortunes.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE suffered notably. A whale made over 38 million dollars in profits by selling 131,137 HYPE tokens. This massive transaction sent shockwaves through the DeFi community, questioning the sustainability of current valuations.
The memecoin PEPE was not spared. A whale transferred 1,000 billion PEPE tokens to Binance, representing 11.65 million dollars. This sale comes after a period of strong token price increase.
Chainlink (LINK) was also targeted. Four addresses linked to the same whale deposited 356,000 LINK on Binance, generating an estimated return on investment of 97.3%.
Solana (SOL) completes this picture with 7.52 million dollars withdrawn from staking and sent to Binance. These simultaneous movements across several major blockchains reveal a coordinated strategy to reduce exposure to cryptos.
These massive sales raise a fundamental question: are we at the peak of a bull cycle?
The crypto market’s history shows that such whale movements often coincide with price peaks. However, despite this selling pressure, fundamentals remain strong and some analysts maintain their bullish targets, predicting ETH at 4,000 dollars by the third quarter of 2025.
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Passionné par le Bitcoin, j’aime explorer les méandres de la blockchain et des cryptos et je partage mes découvertes avec la communauté. Mon rêve est de vivre dans un monde où la vie privée et la liberté financière sont garanties pour tous, et je crois fermement que Bitcoin est l’outil qui peut rendre cela possible.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
