Crypto trader and analyst Ali Martinez, known on the X social media platform as @ali_charts, has reported that over the past two days, large cryptocurrency whales have offloaded a massive amount of Ethereum valued at nearly half a billion dollars.
The analyst also revealed the key reason that likely pushed the whales to that step.
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90,000 ETH sold within 48 hours, here's key reason
Martinez shared a chart provided by the on-chain data company Santiment, which shows that the rapid decline in whale holdings aligns with a 6.53% price drop in Ethereum over the past few days. Back then, the second-largest cryptocurrency went down from a local peak of $4,757, landing at the $4,510 level. It seems that whales decided to lock in their profits, seeing the price go down. Those were wallets holding between 10,000 and 1,000 ETH.
By now, Ethereum has rebounded by 1.42% and is changing hands at $4,510 after reaching $4,548 earlier today.
Whales sold 90,000 Ethereum $ETH in the last 48 hours! pic.twitter.com/YqFfmqs38Z
— Ali (@ali_charts) September 17, 2025
Tom Lee predicts Ethereum to $5,500 by mid-October
Earlier this week, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee spoke to CNBC, sharing that he expects Bitcoin and Ethereum to skyrocket within the next three months, as they can make “a monster move.”
The main trigger for that, according to Lee, is the interest rate reduction to be announced by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell today. The very smallest price jump for Ethereum he expects to see is $5,500 by the middle of October.
