Ethereum’s latest rally to the $4,300 range has prompted a fresh wave of profit-taking, led largely by short-term holders.
Key Takeaways:
Short-term ETH holders are driving most profit-taking, realizing about $553M in gains daily. Overall profit-taking is still 39% below last month’s peak despite the recent rally. ETH trades near $4,283, with $2.23B in positions at risk if prices approach $4,700.Onchain data from Glassnode shows that traders who have held ETH for less than 155 days are realizing gains at a much faster pace than long-term investors, suggesting that some expect a near-term pullback.
Glassnode said in an X post on Monday that profit realization, measured by a seven-day simple moving average, is currently around $553 million per day, with short-term holders driving most of the activity.
ETH Profit-Taking Still 39% Below Last Month’s Peak Despite Uptick
Long-term holders, by contrast, are cashing out at a pace similar to December 2024 levels.
Despite the uptick, overall profit-taking remains 39% below the daily peak seen last month, when ETH traded near $3,500.
Ether has climbed 43% over the past month and was trading at $4,283 at the time of writing. That leaves it about 12.7% shy of its November 2021 all-time high of $4,828.
However, futures market data points to caution — CoinGlass estimates that roughly $2.23 billion in positions could be liquidated if ETH approaches $4,700.
The current hesitation comes after several failed breakout attempts earlier this year.
In March, ETH fell below $2,000, and subsequent rallies failed to sustain momentum, catching many traders off guard. This backdrop may explain why some market participants are quick to lock in gains.
Not all traders are sitting out. Over the weekend, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes revealed he had bought back into Ethereum just a week after selling $10.5 million worth at $3,507.
Ryan Lee, Chief Analyst at Bitget, also claimed that Ethereum’s breakout above $4,300, coupled with gains in XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin, points to early signs of capital rotation away from Bitcoin.
“BTC dominance has slipped from 62% to below 58% in recent weeks, and if altcoins maintain consistent outperformance, with the Altcoin Season Index showing 75% of top alts beating BTC over the past 90 days, it could mark the onset of a true altseason,” he said in a note shared with Cryptonews.com.
According to Lee, in the short to medium term, Ethereum’s momentum looks bullish, poised to test $5,000 if it holds above $4,200, though a pullback to $3,600 remains possible if its overbought RSI (now 68.8) sparks profit-taking.
Santiment’s Brian Quinlivan also noted that public announcements of large institutional purchases can sometimes trigger fear of missing out (FOMO), which paradoxically may stall or even reverse price gains in the near term.
Ethereum Investors to Shift Back to Bitcoin as ETH Soars
As reported, Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow has suggested that Ethereum’s latest rally could be setting up a reversal, with capital eventually flowing back into Bitcoin.
Mow, CEO of Bitcoin adoption firm Jan3, claimed that many long-term ETH holders, particularly early insiders from the ICO era, already own significant amounts of Bitcoin.
According to him, these investors are rotating BTC into ETH to “pump it on new narratives” such as the emergence of Ethereum treasury companies.
Once prices rise sufficiently, he predicts they will sell their ETH, leaving “new generational bagholders,” and move the profits back into Bitcoin. “No one wants ETH in the long run,” he said.
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