Ethereum is holding below $1,700 as the market faces a combination of apathy and uncertainty that is hampering sustained directional moves in either direction. The price is rising sharply – it’s not falling aggressively, but it’s equally failing to generate the momentum needed to regain higher levels – and data from Arkham Intelligence has identified a cluster of huge institutional pullbacks that add a structural layer to the current setup that’s worth examining closely.

The three whale addresses – two of them freshly created wallets with no prior transaction history – withdrew a total of $122.29 million in Ethereum from FalconX and Kraken. The scale of withdrawal is significant. The combination of places is noteworthy. FalconX is a regulated institutional brokerage firm serving the most sophisticated participants in the digital asset markets, while Kraken is one of the most established and best-controlled exchanges in the ecosystem.

Creating up-to-date wallets for withdrawals of this scale is the behavioral detail that carries the most analytical weight. Institutional participants that create up-to-date addresses specifically for huge drawdowns typically do so to maintain operational security, separate treasury positions from trading activities, or create a dedicated holding infrastructure for assets intended for long-term storage rather than short-term trading.

$122 million in Ethereum leaving institutional spaces and moving to freshly created wallets during a period of market apathy does not describe participants preparing to sell. It describes participants who made a decision on Ethereum at current prices – and created the infrastructure to maintain that decision over the long term.

Down by 9 million and still withdrawing

Arkham data adds a layer that transforms the withdrawal from a routine institutional move into a statement of conviction under pressure. One of the addresses involved in the current payout cluster previously purchased Ethereum and is currently suffering an unrealized loss of approximately $9.1 million on that position. The market has moved against this trade – and the response is not to reduce exposure or exit with a smaller loss. The answer is to withdraw more ETH from exchanges into custody.

Arkham raised the issue of whether the address is associated with Tom Lee – and the behavioral profile is consistent with what Bitmine has been doing publicly. The company is steadily working towards achieving its Ethereum supply target of 5%, currently holding approximately $9.32 billion worth of ETH, representing 4.59% of circulating supply, and achieving this threshold still requires additional purchases of approximately $819.86 million.

A participant with an unrealized loss of $9.1 million who responds by withdrawing more ETH from institutional platforms rather than cutting out the position is expressing the same long-term thesis that Bitmine’s entire treasury strategy represents. The loss is present and acknowledged. The direction of the next action remains unchanged.

With Ethereum below $1,700 amid market apathy, this pattern of behavior – institutional-scale participants absorb unrealized losses and continue to accumulate rather than capitulate – is a structural signal that the price chart does not yet reflect, but on-chain data documents in real time.

Ethereum falls below February support as bears extend control

Ethereum remains under bulky selling pressure after decisively breaking below the February support zone near $1,800-$1,900, a level that previously served as the basis for multiple recovery attempts in 2026. The collapse has fundamentally changed the market structure, with ETH currently trading near $1,620 after a brief decline towards the $1,500 region.

More importantly, the recent rebound has been feeble and has failed to recover any significant resistance, highlighting the lack of aggressive buyers despite growing narratives of institutional accumulation.

From a technical perspective, the chart shows a clear sequence of lower highs and lows since the May high near $2,400. A failure in this resistance zone marked the end of the distribution range, which ultimately resulted in a loss. Once ETH lost the $1,850 support area, selling accelerated rapidly, causing a high-volume collapse that pushed the price well below all major moving averages.

The 50-day and 100-day moving averages continue to trend down above the current price, while the 200-day moving average near $2,450 remains well out of reach. This alignment confirms that momentum remains strongly bearish on all major time frames.

The key level to watch is the recent low near $1,500. Bulls have managed to defend this area so far, but if ETH fails to reclaim its former support zone near $1,850, the current bounce looks more like a bounce within a broader downtrend than the beginning of a sustained recovery.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com