Ethereum price prediction: Why ETH’s $1.5K support will favor short sellers

When the market shifts into a risk-off phase, what gives investors enough conviction to HODL?

Historically, periods of extreme fear have often attracted dip buyers with deep pockets. Their accumulation helps keep the FOMO narrative alive and reinforces a HODLing mindset around the asset.

In Ethereum’s case, however, weakening technicals are now starting to spill into the on-chain data, making fresh demand from large holders increasingly important. 

As the chart below shows, the share of Ethereum supply sitting at more than 3x profit has dropped to just 11%, its lowest level since February 2017. Put simply, far fewer ETH holders are sitting on significant gains than in previous cycles.

As a result, that leaves less conviction embedded in the market. Consequently, as more holders drift toward breakeven or fall into losses, the need for large buyers to step in and absorb supply becomes increasingly important for maintaining market confidence.

Against that backdrop, BitMine’s accumulation of 126k ETH, worth $213 million, over the past week stands out. The timing is hard to ignore.

With Ethereum’s technical and on-chain structure continuing to weaken, BMNR’s aggressive buying signals conviction at a point when much of the market remains hesitant. 

That said, the real test lies ahead. Ethereum [ETH] is now approaching a key support zone, and the market will soon find out whether BMNR’s conviction is enough to offset the broader weakness showing up across both technical and on-chain metrics. 

Ethereum price prediction highlights where reward outweighs risk

Is shorting ETH becoming a better “risk-reward” trade than betting on BMNR’s accumulation strategy?

At this point, not everyone is convinced by the accumulation story. In fact, on-chain data flagged by Lookonchain shows at least one whale positioning for further downside.

A whale wallet recently borrowed 18,000 ETH, worth roughly $29.8 million, from Aave over the past two days before selling the tokens into the market, a move that effectively amounts to a leveraged short on Ethereum.

From a technical standpoint, the trade isn’t without merit. Ethereum has now closed four straight weeks in the red, with the latest weekly candle dropping more than 15% and sweeping as low as $1.5k.

More importantly, despite BMNR’s aggressive accumulation, ETH has yet to show a meaningful reaction, extending its weakness into this week. In this environment, the short thesis remains difficult to ignore.

Notably, the weakness doesn’t stop there. 

The ETH/BTC ratio has now fallen to 0.026, its lowest level since March 2016. To put that into perspective, the market is pricing Ethereum relative to Bitcoin at levels last seen “before” DeFi, NFTs, Layer-2s, and much of the ecosystem growth that followed.

That’s a clear sign of underperformance. 

Taken together, ETH’s weakness is showing up across both technical and on-chain metrics. While BMNR continues to accumulate, the market has yet to respond.

For now, that leaves the short thesis looking more attractive from a risk-reward perspective, with Ethereum’s breakdown below the $1.5k support zone increasingly being priced in.

Final Summary

• Ethereum price prediction shows ETH is weakening across on-chain and technical metrics, and price is still struggling near $1.5k despite BMNR buying.
• Shorts look more attractive short-term as ETH underperforms BTC and downside momentum continues.