Ethereum eyes recovery as whale inflows surge — is a breakout above $2.6K brewing? 

Ethereum is showing fresh signs of strength as more big investors enter the market.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by value is trading at $2,575, up 1.5% in the past 24 hours. Over the last week, its price has moved between $2,473 and $2,869, during a time when global markets have been uneasy due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

Trading activity around Ethereum (ETH) has picked up sharply. In the past day, daily spot trading volume rose over 32% to $14.27 billion. At the same time, data from Coinglass shows that futures trading volume is up 26.46% to $53.09 billion. Open interest, or money locked into ETH futures, has gone up by 1.20% to $35.13 billion. This shows that more traders are placing new bets, likely expecting a bigger move in price.

On-chain data also points to growing interest. According to a June 14 post by Santiment, wallets holding between 1,000 and 100,000 ETH have been buying heavily. These larger holders, often called whales and sharks, have added 1.49 million ETH in the past month.

Their total share of the ETH supply is now 26.98%. At the same time, many smaller holders appear to have sold for profit, meaning large players are buying while others cash out.

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Institutional demand is also strong. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust has picked up more than 1.5 million ETH, worth about $4 billion. It purchased almost $240 million worth of Ethereum between June 3 and June 6.

This month alone, BlackRock has added more than $500 million in Ethereum. Other companies, such as Cumberland and Galaxy Digital, are also expanding their holdings, indicating strong interest from big institutional players.

On the technical side, Ethereum is trading just below its 20-day average and moving within a tighter price range. Bollinger Bands are starting to narrow, a sign that volatility is compressing ahead of a potential breakout. The relative strength index is neutral at 52, but increasing volume and whale activity may help push the price higher.

Although they continue to show some weakness, momentum indicators like the 10-period momentum and the moving average convergence divergence seem to be bottoming out. If the MACD line crosses above the signal line in the coming sessions, it would be a bullish sign of renewed upward momentum.

The next major resistance zone is located around $2,870 if bulls are able to push the price above $2,600 with volume confirmation. A close above that would open the door toward $3,000. On the downside, a retest of the lower Bollinger Band around $2,400 might occur if the price is unable to stay above the 20-day average.

Read more: Ethereum price prediction: analysts say $4,000 in reach as institutions diversify from Bitcoin