ETH may reclaim $2.2K “macro range” amid growing whale accumulation

Ether needs to reclaim the “macro” range above the $2,200 mark to amass more upside momentum as crypto markets remain pressured by global macroeconomic concerns until at least the beginning of April.
Ether (ETH) price is down over 51% during its three-month downtrend after it peaked above $4,100 on Dec. 16, 2024, TradingView data shows.
ETH/USD, 1-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
To stage a reversal from this downtrend, Ether price needs to reclaim the “macro range” above $2,200, wrote popular crypto analyst Rekt Capital in a March 19 X post:
“If price can generate a strong enough reaction here, then #ETH will be able to reclaim the $2,196-$3,900 Macro Range (black).”
ETH/USD, monthly chart. Source: Rekt Capital
Meanwhile, Ether’s open interest surged to a new all-time high on March 21, raising investor hopes that large traders are positioning for a rally above $2,400.
Ether futures aggregate open interest, ETH. Source: CoinGlass
Ether remains unable to gain significant momentum despite positive crypto regulatory developments, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission dropping the lawsuit against Ripple.
Some analysts expect traditional and cryptocurrency markets to be pressured by global trade war concerns until at least the beginning of April, when countries may find a resolution to the retaliatory tariffs.
Related: Trader nets $480K with 1,500x return before BNB memecoin crashes 50%
ETH whales only ones buying: Nansen analyst
While some crypto traders often blame large investors, or whales, for market downturns, these participants are simply “playing the market in any direction,” according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.
The analyst said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction daily X show on March 21:
“The ETH whales in the 10k to 100k have actually been accumulating ETH, whereas everyone else has been dumping.”
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
The number of addresses with at least $100,000 worth of Ether started rising at the beginning of March, from just over 70,000 addresses on March 10 to over 75,000 on March 22, Glassnode data shows.
ETH: Number of Addresses with Balance ≥ $100k. Year-to-date chart. Source: Glassnode
In comparison, there were over 146,000 wallets with over $100,000 in ETH balance on Dec. 8, when Ether’s price was trading above $4,000.
Despite the potential for short-term volatility, investors remain optimistic for the rest of 2025, VanEck predicted a $6,000 cycle top for Ether’s price and a $180,000 Bitcoin (BTC) price during 2025.
Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 117,580.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,941.70
XRP (XRP) $ 2.74
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
BNB (BNB) $ 684.79
Solana (SOL) $ 160.51
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999903
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.197399
TRON (TRX) $ 0.300190
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,940.87
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.706718
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 46.64
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 117,361.00
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,537.87
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.384866
Sui (SUI) $ 3.40
Chainlink (LINK) $ 15.04
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 509.09
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 20.71
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.09
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.195682
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,152.89
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000013
Toncoin (TON) $ 2.97
WETH (WETH) $ 2,942.53
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999811
Litecoin (LTC) $ 92.81
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 45.77
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 0.999307
Monero (XMR) $ 329.36
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 117,612.00
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.90
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000012
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.36
Uniswap (UNI) $ 8.37
Aave (AAVE) $ 300.10
Bittensor (TAO) $ 385.07
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999850
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.464214
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.101700
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.18
Aptos (APT) $ 4.79
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.49
OKB (OKB) $ 48.51
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.29
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 195.26
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 18.11
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.872181
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.06
USD1 (USD1) $ 0.999900
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.083614
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.641356
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 4.59
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.229183
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.324157
VeChain (VET) $ 0.023614
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000026
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.395762
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.50
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 9.62
Gate (GT) $ 15.89
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.217779
Render (RENDER) $ 3.59
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.689625
Sei (SEI) $ 0.322690
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 2,939.73
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.03
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.54
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 117,248.00
Sky (SKY) $ 0.077769
Quant (QNT) $ 111.55
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.70
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 170.25
USDtb (USDTB) $ 0.999683
SPX6900 (SPX) $ 1.57
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.998591
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.39
Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) $ 0.023036
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.475599
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 3,084.29
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 3,352.13
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 1.00
Celestia (TIA) $ 1.88
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.27
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.27
Story (IP) $ 4.42
Injective (INJ) $ 12.29
Flare (FLR) $ 0.016845
Stacks (STX) $ 0.739523
Optimism (OP) $ 0.644959
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) $ 1.72
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.069416
Sonic (S) $ 0.348906
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 3,146.27
StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH) $ 3,091.53
Solv Protocol BTC (SOLVBTC) $ 117,263.00
Polygon Bridged USDT (Polygon) (USDT) $ 1.00
Binance Bridged USDC (BNB Smart Chain) (USDC) $ 0.999471