- A whale opened a long ETH position worth $295 million with up to 10x leverage.
- ETH ETFs attracted a year’s worth of inflows in just six weeks.
- Institutional ETH reserves rose from $6 billion to $17 billion in one month.
An old Bitcoin (BTC) whale has shifted millions into Ethereum (ETH), representing one of the most significant visible portfolio moves this quarter.
On-chain data shows the whale deposited $76 million worth of BTC into Hyperliquid, sold it, and then opened leveraged long positions in ETH across several wallets.
This shift comes as Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin in both returns and institutional inflows — a trend some market participants are calling the start of “Ethereum season.”
The move also coincides with a sharp influx into ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and increasing treasury allocations to altcoins.
Whale moves holdings into Ethereum
According to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, the whale originally acquired 14,837 BTC seven years ago from HTX and Binance at an average price of $7,242 per coin.
That purchase, which was worth $107.5 million at the time, has since appreciated to more than $1.6 billion.
Recent transactions show the whale deposited 670.1 BTC (about $76 million) into the decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid.
After selling, the whale opened long positions totaling 68,130 ETH (approximately $295 million) across four wallets.
Most trades were executed with up to 10x leverage, amplifying potential gains as well as potential losses.
Latest data from HypurrScan revealed that all of the whale’s wallets are currently showing unrealized losses totaling $1.8 million.
Despite the temporary unrealized losses, the sizable reallocation underscores a clear shift toward ETH during a period in which its performance is outpacing BTC.
Market data from Coinglass shows ETH has returned 71.91% so far in the third quarter, compared with just 6.28% for BTC.
Ethereum’s gains have led some analysts to label the current market environment “Ethereum season,” as capital increasingly flows into ETH rather than Bitcoin.
The trend is visible in market activity, with Ethereum consistently posting higher daily returns than Bitcoin since the start of the quarter.
Institutional shift bolsters demand for Ethereum
Institutional interest in Ethereum has surged. Corporate purchases of Bitcoin for treasury reserves have slowed, with only 2.8 companies per month adding BTC to their holdings. In contrast, Ethereum has seen steady institutional inflows.
The Strategic ETH Reserve reported that institutional holdings of ETH rose from $6 billion to $17 billion over the past month — an increase of 183%.
This accumulation signals growing confidence in Ethereum’s market trajectory and its role within the broader crypto cycle.
The whale’s leveraged entry into ETH aligns with this broader trend, suggesting that both individual and institutional strategies are converging on Ethereum as the leading asset of the current altcoin phase.
“Ethereum season” points to the next phase of the altcoin cycle
Ethereum’s rise is widely seen as part of a broader “altseason” cycle. In this pattern, capital typically flows into Bitcoin first, then into Ethereum, and eventually spreads into a wider range of altcoins ahead of a broader market peak.
With ETH outperforming BTC in the second and third quarters and institutional investment accelerating, some analysts suggest the market may now be entering the second phase of the altcoin cycle.
The whale’s decision to convert a portion of its BTC into ETH reflects this shift, and its $76 million allocation highlights how long-term holders are adjusting to changing market dynamics.