Following the demise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Ethereum (ETH) is under intense selling pressure. According to Ali Martinez, ETH whales traded about a million coins in December 2022, escalating investor concerns. According to Martinez, whales with between $10,000 and $100,000 in ETH sold or dispersed around 880,000 coins. At the time of publication, trading volume had declined by 3.05% in 24 hours. However, trading volume increased 23% to $4.5 billion the day before, while the market cap fell 2%.
To put it mildly, Ethereum’s price performance in December was poor. The key causes of the market’s lack of momentum were poor fundamentals, a grim economic background, and a lack of network activity. However, after investigating whale wallets, it appears that the fundamental problem is rather more basic. According to on-chain statistics, Ethereum whales with up to 100,000 ETH have sold or moved up to 880,000 ETH since the beginning of the month. At least a portion of the money was most certainly sold on the market, mirroring the selling pressure we experienced all month.
Ethereum has had a difficult year, with its value plummeting by 75.5% from its all-time high and 70.4% in a single year. Many people are concerned that the value of ETH may fall much more as we enter the new year. ETH has dropped below $1200 and may continue to decrease if it does not rise over $1215. Furthermore, since mid-December, issuance has grown.
While trading activity on Ethereum has been slow in December, with the market’s low liquidity, merely 500,000 ETH of selling pressure would be enough to push the market’s second largest cryptocurrency below the $1,200 barrier.
Another significant contributor to active asset redistribution was the global trend of capital migrating from centralised cryptocurrency exchanges to self-custody. Although migration from exchanges to wallets is not directly tied to selling activities, it may be a factor since some investors choose to liquidate their holdings rather than simply shift them to their own wallets.
As previously said, the primary cause for the ETH price drop might be related to decreased network activity as more investors leave the sector for good, or at least until the market rebounds. At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $1,199, attempting to hold the $1,200 price mark, which serves as a platform for any advance toward the next resistance.
What may propel Ethereum higher?
With issuance growing, the most likely scenario would be a rise in coin issuance with a gradual decline in supply following the new year. If more investors return to the market and produce more activity, the market’s burning process will speed up.
Guy of Coin Bureau, a well-known cryptocurrency specialist, forecasts that Ethereum will have a spectacular year in 2023. Guy believes that the upcoming Ethereum Shanghai upgrade will lead Ether’s trend to reverse. The Shanghai update will be unveiled in the first quarter of 2023.
If billions of dollars in ETH tied up in smart contracts are released, the analyst believes that investors will be enticed to stake their tokens for a potentially stress-free investment experience. The Shanghai update, among other things, will allow ETH stakers and validators to withdraw cash from the Beacon Chain. At the time of publication, ETH was trading at $1,194.74, up 0.2% in the previous 24 hours. However, in the previous 14 days, the cryptocurrency has fallen by 8.8%.
