• The price has been consolidating in a tight range, suggesting a large forthcoming move.
• A major decline is likely if price breaches the crucial support level around $1550.

As the bulls and bears continue their fight, the ETH price has been under intense selling pressure. On the other side, there are hints of new developments in network activity data. Santiment, a data analytics platform, highlighted a critical aspect of growing centralization: the abandonment of retail traders in the face of a significant market downturn. Over 35% of all Ethereum in circulation is controlled by the top 10 wallet addresses, according to the analytics platform.

And in the midst of this very unstable period, whales have been particularly active. Around 21,299 Ether worth approx. $35M was transferred from an anonymous wallet to crypto exchange Coinbase. This might be the beginning of a sell-off that precedes a downturn.

High Volatility Expected

Since such a large quantity has the potential to significantly alter the liquidity of ETH, it may have an effect on the short term trend. CMC reports that the current price of ETH is $1,648, representing a decrease of 0.88% over the last 24 hours.

The price has been consolidating in a tight range, suggesting a large forthcoming move in either direction, but has been unable to break through the $1700 resistance level. The ETH price has maintained stability around the $1650 mark so far. But it’s still trading under the 100-hour simple moving average.

The next level of resistance is located around the $1800 mark, which might be reached by a price rise if the $1700 level is broken. However, a major decline is likely if price breaches the crucial support level around $1600, and this decline might extend all the way to the $1500 level.