Major fluctuations within the Ethereum (ETH) market yesterday triggered a wave of reactions throughout social media, with one Ethereum co-founder claiming that sure giant holders—or “whales”—had been intentionally pushing the asset’s worth downward.
The exercise reached a fever pitch on Monday, February 4, when the ETH worth swung from round $2,900 to as little as $2,120 earlier than bouncing again sharply. Despite the intraday plunge, Ether finally closed the day sporting a 26% inexperienced wick—an unusual worth rebound in such a brief window.
Ethereum Price Manipulated By Whales?
Analysts attributed the dramatic motion to exterior macroeconomic forces, most notably the US commerce battle beneath President Donald Trump. After imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada early within the day, the president later struck an association that spurred a fast restoration throughout world markets, together with cryptocurrency.
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The turbulence led one observer, recognized merely as “intern” (@intern), the director of development at Monad, to submit a stark sentiment on X: “ETH is dying right in front of us. honestly never thought this would happen.”
In response, Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin supplied a composed outlook, underscoring that most of these worth swings should not uncommon for the digital asset: “It happens regularly. Then it surges. What we are seeing is whales taking advantage of economic turmoil and negative sentiment to shake out weak hands, run stops, and then buy back when they can run that same playbook in reverse.”
Lubin’s assertion presents a cyclical understanding of crypto volatility, implying that bigger gamers capitalize on market nervousness—usually exacerbated by macro developments—to stress much less resilient traders into promoting.
Several distinguished crypto merchants additionally commented on the occasions, particularly on accusations of whale-led manipulation.
One well-known determine, Hsaka (@HsakaTrades), suggested newcomers to not assume ETH’s decline was pushed purely by natural market sentiment: “Dear noobs, Ethereum is NOT naturally going down. It is being pushed down via whales placing spoofy sell orders on exchanges to make noobs and risk managers sell to ‘buy back lower’. They are stealing your bags and will make you buy back at a higher price.”
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The notion of a concerted “spoofing” technique—the place giant promote orders are positioned after which canceled or solely partially stuffed—has lengthy circulated inside crypto communities. The tactic reportedly goals to set off panic sells, thereby letting so-called whales accumulate positions at extra favorable worth ranges.
Prominent dealer Pentoshi (@Pentosh1) supplied a short however pointed response, highlighting how ETH has underperformed relative to Bitcoin (BTC) over the previous three years: “3 year shake out so far. Hope you’re right.”
The query of why whales would single out Ether particularly was raised by neighborhood member EVMaverick392.eth (@EVMaverick392): “Maybe I’ll sound naive, but why do whales perform this maneuver exclusively on ether?”
Lubin responded by drawing a parallel to traditional financial institution robberies and suggesting that the latest wave of unease surrounding the Ethereum ecosystem has made the asset a primary goal: “Why do bank robbers rob banks— or used to? The (unjustified) FUD toward the Ethereum ecosystem is currently most pronounced.”
At press time, ETH traded at $2,704.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
