Shark wallets return with ETH accumulation as price recovers close to $3,200

ETH returned to a higher price range, boosted by accumulation in mid-range wallets. Despite the slowdown in whale buying, shark wallets became a major factor for ETH in the past year. 

ETH shifted to a higher price range, accelerating its recovery based on more active derivative trading. Token accumulation was also a major factor behind the recent rally, especially driven by wallets with 1K-10K ETH. Based on Santiment data, shark wallets were important for ETH support in all of 2025. 

The recovery of ETH extended to $3,207.23, boosted by the overall positive market direction. ETH still held at 0.034 BTC, and remained the top gainer among the top 10 coins and tokens. For the past day, ETH reclaimed 5% on its price. 

As the driver of DeFi and mainstream ETF adoption, ETH recovered faster compared to altcoins, trading in its own category. Traders also regained confidence in an ETH recovery, recently pushing leverage on Binance to an all-time high.

Accumulation wallets also hold the highest balance of ETH, with over 25.9M tokens sent to self-custodial holder wallets. ETH accumulation turned vertical since June, as the token expected a breakout to a higher range.

During the accumulation stage, whales were greedier and confident compared to retail, which were mostly selling and turning bearish on ETH.

ETH buying for treasuries has gone flat since October

During previous market rallies, buying from treasury companies added to the hype for ETH. Since October, those buyers have diminished, with only Bitmine (BMNR) making regular additions. 

In the past 30 days, Bitmine was practically the sole DAT buyer, expanding its treasury by 9.8%. However, the past month saw a few other whales move in, and treasury buyers only retained their holdings. Most companies now rely on staking rewards for a regular weekly passive income. 

Despite the slowdown of the DAT narrative, ETH finds other factors for growth. At the same time, DAT company shares remain near their lows, with mNAV ratios below 1. The low ratio signals a low enthusiasm for applying Strategy’s playbook to ETH. 

ETH open interest keeps rising

ETH open interest kept rising, and is back to around $18B, up by $3B in the past week. After a period of relative calm and smaller long liquidations, traders started returning. 

Based on the currently available liquidity, ETH may see a short squeeze to over $3,300. Long positions also established a support price for ETH at just above $3,000, where most of the liquidity is concentrated. 

The derivative and perpetual futures market is becoming more important for ETH, after a brief switch to spot trading. However, derivative positions also inform spot buyers and accumulating wallets. 

ETH is also showing a return to buying demand, as the taker buy/sell ratio rose, signaling a rush to buy at the current market price.