Ethereum price could reach the $2,150 level if it fails to hold the $2,400 level. The whale’s $100.67 million ETH dump, while Wintermute opens a $58.36 million short position, hints at a potential downside move.
Ethereum price seems to be facing strong selling pressure after an impressive recovery in August 2026. Over the past 24 hours, multiple reports have surfaced, revealing that whales and trading giants are making bets against ETH.
According to the crypto transaction tracker Onchain Lens, Wintermute, a crypto trading firm, has opened massive short positions on 29,921 ETH worth $58.36 million. Alongside ETH, the firm has also opened short positions on SOL and BTC worth $26.11 million and $19.16 million, respectively, while making a profit of $1.73 million.
Adding to the selling pressure, another transaction tracker, Lookonchain, disclosed that a whale/institutional wallet address “0x2Ea2” dumped 40,881 ETH worth $100.67 million over the past two days. As per the report, this wallet address offloaded the ETH across multiple exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, and Bitstamp.
Both bearish transactions were recorded while Ethereum price continued its sideways movement for 10 straight days near the key support level of $2,400.
Besides all these, the factor that reinforces this bearish outlook is the escalating US-Iran war. In a recent news update, the US attacked Iran for the first time since late July, citing efforts to combat the deployment of mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
At press time, ETH traded at $2,450, up a modest 0.25% over the past 24 hours. However, during the same period, the asset has recorded a significant 273% spike in trading volume to $55.04 billion.
Alongside the whale and trading firm, intraday traders are also following the same bearish trend, as recorded on the derivative tool Coinglass.
Data shows that $2,415 on the lower side and $2,464.4 on the upper side are the two liquidation levels. At these levels, traders appear to be over-leveraged, having built long positions worth $134.50 million and short positions worth $156.99 million.
In fact, the ETH long/short ratio fell below 1 and stood at $0.976, indicating strong bearish sentiment among traders.
These datasets suggest that intraday traders currently have a bearish bias on ETH, while bulls seem to be exhausted at the moment.
Now, the question is, what’s next for Ethereum price? Will the ongoing sideways momentum continue?
As per the TradingView daily chart, ETH is in an uptrend. This is not because the price is trading above the 200 day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), but because it has cleared the $2,400 level. On the chart, it is evident that the asset lost the $2,400 level in January 2026. Since then, it attempted multiple times to break through this level but failed.
Following this breakout, ETH has opened the door for an upward move, though currently it is moving sideways. Based on current price action, if Ethereum price remains above $2,400, it is likely to turn bullish and may rally upward provided the sentiment shifts.
However, this bullish outlook could be invalidated if ETH price falls below the $2,400 level. In this scenario, the asset could see a sharp downside move and may fall to its next support near the $2,150 level.
At press time, the Average Directional Index (ADX) read 46.47, above the key threshold of 25, indicating strong trend strength.
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