ETH holdings among the 1,000–10,000 wallet cohort now exceed 16 million. ETH-focused funds saw $583 million in inflows last week alone. Price remains in the $2,150–$3,600 range despite a 90% rally over two months.

Ethereum has seen a dramatic surge in accumulation activity among its largest holders, with wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH adding over 818,410 ETH—worth roughly $2.5 billion— on Sunday.

This marks the sharpest one-day increase in holdings for this wallet cohort since 2018, according to on-chain data.

The same addresses, typically linked to early adopters, crypto funds, and so-called “whales”, now control more than 16 million ETH, up from around 11.9 million ETH a year earlier.

The spike in whale accumulation appears to be reinforced by heightened institutional demand.

According to CoinShares’ weekly report published on Friday, Ethereum-focused investment funds attracted inflows totalling $583 million in the week ending  June 13, raising the net total for the year to $2.28 billion.

This reflects a growing appetite for Ether among traditional asset managers and crypto-native firms alike.

Ethereum is currently trading at $2,643, and despite rising more than 90% in the last two months, it remains within a long-term consolidation range defined by $2,150 and $3,600.

The price structure has drawn comparisons to its historical pattern between 2016 and 2017, when Ethereum moved sideways after the DAO exploit and subsequent Ethereum Classic fork.

Back then, the coin’s price eventually broke out of a $10–$20 range, climbing to over $1,500 in less than a year during the ICO boom.

Market analyst Milkybull Crypto noted that today’s conditions share a similar technical setup.

The current phase of sideways price action is occurring above Ethereum’s 50-week and 200-week exponential moving averages (EMA), both of which are widely viewed as key trend indicators by traders.

These support levels are holding firm despite macroeconomic headwinds and short-term volatility in broader crypto markets.

Analysts say Ethereum is “coiling” beneath resistance levels and primed for a potential breakout.

The upper limit of the current channel—around $4,000—is seen as the first major price target, with several market watchers highlighting this level as a critical inflection point.

If broken, it could initiate a larger upside move, similar to previous breakout cycles.

According to Milkybull Crypto’s projections shared in May, a longer-term target of $10,000 for ETH “cannot be ruled out.”

This would represent a more than 275% increase from current levels.

While such targets are speculative, the comparison to Ethereum’s 2017 performance has gained traction among technical analysts tracking historical cycles.

In that cycle, Ethereum’s price was driven largely by ICO mania and a surge in developer activity.

This time, the drivers are different: ETH ETFs are gaining traction, staking yields continue to attract capital, and tokenisation projects are expanding use cases for the network.

Despite these differences, analysts argue that the underlying pattern of breakout consolidation remains comparable.

The post Ethereum whales buy $2.5 billion in ETH as price targets $4,000 breakout appeared first on CoinJournal.

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