Ethereum (ETH) stabilizes at around $2,500 on Thursday after declining to retest its key support level of $2,461 on Wednesday; a close below this level would suggest a decline ahead. Early investor in ETH’s ICO (Initial Coin Offering) and holders booking profits further support this weakness in recent price action.
Lookonchain data shows that an Ethereum ICO participant sold 3,000 ETH worth $7.64 million on Thursday. The last time this whale sold 7,000 ETH, $24.28 million, was on July 1, after which the price of ETH dropped nearly 15%. The whale still holds 37,070 ETH worth $93.8 million.
An #Ethereum ICO participant sold 3K $ETH($7.64M) again 55 mins ago.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 24, 2024
The last time this whale sold 7K $ETH($24.28M) was on July 1, after which the price of $ETH dropped nearly 15%.
This whale received 254,908 $ETH during the ICO(initial cost was $79K, now worth $646M), and… pic.twitter.com/iAZEVDKmkf
Santiment's Network Realized Profit/Loss (NPL) shows holders booking some profits. This indicator computes a daily network-level Return On Investment (ROI) based on the coin's on-chain transaction volume. Strong spikes in a coin's NPL indicate that its holders are, on average, selling their bags at a significant profit. On the other hand, strong dips imply that the coin's holders are, on average, realizing losses, suggesting panic sell-offs and investor capitulation.
In ETH's case, the NPL indicator rose from 23.67 million to 44.46 million from Saturday to Tuesday. This uptick indicates that the holders were, on average, taking profits.
Ethereum Network Realized Profit/Loss chart. Source: Santiment
Ethereum price broke and closed below the 50-day EMA at $2,560 on Wednesday after encountering resistance near a descending trendline (drawn by joining multiple highs from the end of May) earlier in the week. However, it rebounded after retesting its daily support level of $2,461 and stabilizes slightly above $2,500 on Thursday.
If ETH breaks and closes below the $2,461 support level, it could decline over 12% to retest its September 6 low of $2,149.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator on the daily chart declines and trades at 48, below its neutral level of 50, indicating increasing bearish momentum.
ETH/USDT daily chart
However, if ETH raises and closes above the 50-day EMA at $2,560, it could rally to retest its Monday high of $2,769.
Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain with smart contracts functionality. Its native currency Ether (ETH), is the second-largest cryptocurrency and number one altcoin by market capitalization. The Ethereum network is tailored for building crypto solutions like decentralized finance (DeFi), GameFi, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), etc.
Ethereum is a public decentralized blockchain technology, where developers can build and deploy applications that function without the need for a central authority. To make this easier, the network leverages the Solidity programming language and Ethereum virtual machine which helps developers create and launch applications with smart contract functionality.
Smart contracts are publicly verifiable codes that automates agreements between two or more parties. Basically, these codes self-execute encoded actions when predetermined conditions are met.
Staking is a process of earning yield on your idle crypto assets by locking them in a crypto protocol for a specified duration as a means of contributing to its security. Ethereum transitioned from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism on September 15, 2022, in an event christened “The Merge.” The Merge was a key part of Ethereum's roadmap to achieve high-level scalability, decentralization and security while remaining sustainable. Unlike PoW, which requires the use of expensive hardware, PoS reduces the barrier of entry for validators by leveraging the use of crypto tokens as the core foundation of its consensus process.
Gas is the unit for measuring transaction fees that users pay for conducting transactions on Ethereum. During periods of network congestion, gas can be extremely high, causing validators to prioritize transactions based on their fees.