Ethereum

Bitcoin Smashes Weekly Inflow Records with $3.55 Billion Surge

Ethereum and Solana dominated investor interest, while altcoins like Sui and Chainlink also saw minor inflows.

Bitcoin attracted record-breaking inflows of $3.55 billion last week, even as its price neared historic highs and investors avoided short products. Across the broader digital asset market, investment inflows totaled $5.95 billion, which is the largest weekly inflows ever recorded.

CoinShares believes this surge indicates a delayed reaction to the FOMC’s interest rate reduction, coupled with disappointing employment figures from the ADP Payroll report and uncertainty surrounding US government stability due to the shutdown. The resulting price rally lifted total assets under management (AuM) in digital assets to a whopping $254 billion.

Investment Influx

According to the latest edition of the ‘Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report,’ the bullish trend was widespread as Ethereum recorded $1.48 billion in inflows last week, bringing its year-to-date total to a record $13.7 billion, nearly triple last year’s figure. Solana also hit a new weekly record with $706.5 million in inflows, which pushed its YTD total to $2.58 billion. XRP attracted $219.4 million, while most other altcoins saw minimal investor activity.

Investment products dedicated to Sui, Chainlink, and Litecoin welcomed inflows of $3.4 million, $1.5 million, and $1.2 million in inflows respectively. Meanwhile, Cardano also saw a modest inflow of $0.5 million during the same period. Multi-asset products, on the other hand, was the only cohort to have bucked the trend as it saw a weekly outflow of $23.5 million.

Last week’s inflows showed broad regional optimism, with the United States leading the sentiment as it saw $5.0 billion inflows last week, a new weekly record. Switzerland also set a weekly high, posting $563 million in inflows, while Germany welcomed its second-largest weekly inflows of $312 million.

Next up were Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong with $32.1 million, $6.3 million, and $5 million in inflows, respectively. Brazil, too, settled with a minor $4.8 million in inflows. Sweden, in contrast, acted as an outlier with $8.6 million in outflows.

October Seasonality and Market Narratives

Going forward, QCP Capital predicted a strong but cautious outlook for Bitcoin as the market approaches a potential October breakout. According to its latest note, major whales appear to have either completed their asset rotations or are holding steady, and waiting for momentum to unfold.

Ethereum

Ethereum Derivatives Traders Position for $4K Rebound, Data Shows

Ethereum ( ETH) derivatives traders are back in full swing, with open interest, volume, and options activity all flashing signs of renewed energy across futures and options markets. ETH Max Pain Sits Near $3,300 as Traders Eye Key Expiry Levels At 10 a.m. Eastern time on Nov…
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Ethereum

ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract Now Controls 60% Of All Ethereum: Arkham

Rain Lohmus bought $75,000 worth of ETH in 2014, which is now worth $871 million. Yet, he cannot move even a single coin.

New on-chain research from Arkham Intelligence this week shows that the wallet address holding the most ETH today is not an individual, not an exchange, not an ETF issuer, but the staking contract that secures Ethereum.

According to Arkham, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract currently holds more than 72.4 million ETH, worth around $252 billion at current market prices, and represents approximately 60% of the total supply.

Ethereum’s Power Center

In terms of individuals, the research firm confirmed that the largest known individual holder of ETH is still Rain Lohmus, the founder of Estonian bank LHV, who bought 250,000 ETH in the 2014 presale for around $75,000. Those coins would now be worth roughly $871 million, but Lohmus does not have access to them because he lost the private keys years ago.

The second largest identifiable individual holder is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who currently holds around 240,000 ETH, worth around $840 million.

Beyond individual wallets, centralized exchanges and institutional entities collectively control some of the largest pools of Ether. Binance, for one, holds approximately 4.09 million ETH, while asset manager BlackRock holds around 3.94 million ETH, largely associated with its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. Coinbase is the next largest institutional holder, with approximately 3.5 million ETH across multiple addresses, including cold wallets and staking reserves for its cbETH staking token.

Following suit are Upbit, Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, and Bitfinex, which appear among the top institutional holders.

Seized Funds, Stolen Funds, and Layer-2 Bridges

Arkham found that governments also appear on the leaderboard. For instance, the United States government controls around 60,000 ETH, which largely consists of seized criminal funds, including from the Potapenko/Turogin case and from seizures related to the Bitfinex hacker.

Ethereum

Ethereum Traders Just Flipped Bullish, But History Says This Is a Major Red Flag

Ethereum’s bounce toward $3,500 triggered instant FOMO, but Santiment says extreme optimism usually means price is about to disappoint.

Ethereum traders have swung sharply from extreme bearishness to extreme bullishness within just a few days, based on social media sentiment.

But fresh data suggest that when ETH nearly rebounded to $3,500 on Thursday, the crowd interpreted the move as a confirmation that the asset was “back in business.”

ETH Trader FOMO

Santiment warned that this sudden pivot is similar to the same pattern seen earlier in the week, when retail panic selling actually contributed to the rebound. Now, the rapid return of FOMO could similarly stall further upside.

According to the analytics platform, prices have shown a tendency to move in the opposite direction of the crowd, and that more neutral sentiment phases have proven to be stronger buy signal environments than euphoric ones.

Crypto trader Ted Pillows also noted that even though the altcoin is showing some rebound after this week’s sharp decline, the recovery lacks conviction. According to Pillows, the current move higher, though modest, is being driven largely by short positions being closed rather than new spot buyers stepping in. He added that Ethereum needs to reclaim the $3,600-$3,700 price range with meaningful inflows to establish strength and dismiss the risk of further downside. Without that confirmation, Pillows believes the odds still favor lower prices from here.

Despite the near-term uncertainty, some traders say the bigger picture is still pointing toward a substantial upside scenario. For instance, crypto trader “Trader Tradigrade” said that ETH’s monthly chart is currently developing what he describes as a massive Inverse Head and Shoulders pattern, with a potential price target of $14,000 once confirmed.

“Wet Blanket” Phase

As the crypto market remains sluggish, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz believes that this could be due to long-term holders rebalancing their net worths and diversifying away from massive concentrated holdings after a very long bull market. Novogratz deems this to be a healthy sign in the medium and long term as these positions get distributed. In the short run, however, he said that “it’s a proverbial wet blanket” and has weighed on prices.

About the author

Chayanika has been working as a financial journalist for six years. A graduate in Political Science and Journalism, her interest lies in regulatory implications with a focus on technological evolution in the crypto realm.