Ethereum Whales Split as Accumulation and Selling Clash in January

Whales are pulling Ethereum (ETH) in opposite directions in late January 2026. On-chain data shows large holders actively rotating capital while others accumulate ETH on dips, highlighting a growing tug-of-war between distribution and long-term positioning. The contrast comes as market pressure continues to weigh on the second-largest cryptocurrency, which has dropped over 10% in the past week. What Are Ethereum Whales Doing Amid January Market Pressure? Data from BeInCrypto Markets data revealed that Ethereum has erased all its early 2026 gains. The second-largest cryptocurrency is down nearly 5% year-to-date, as it continues to struggle below $3,000. At the time of writing, Ethereum was trading at $2,863.66, down 2.69% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto Markets Against this backdrop, whale behavior appears increasingly split. On the accumulation side, Lookonchain reported that OTC whale address 0xFB7 purchased 20,000 ETH worth $56.13 million. Over the past five days, the same whale has accumulated a total of 70,013 ETH, valued at approximately $203.6 million. The trend of accumulation is not new. As previously reported by BeInCrypto, Ethereum whales added more than 350,000 ETH in a single day last week. Furthermore, CryptoQuant data shows that Ethereum exchange reserves have continued to decline. This suggests reduced sell-side supply and reinforces the view that large holders are moving ETH off exchanges into longer-term storage. At the same time, capital rotation has also been evident among large holders. President Trump-backed DeFi project World Liberty Financial shifted its exposure from Bitcoin (BTC) to Ethereum, swapping 93.77 WBTC, worth $8.08 million, for 2,868 ETH. Another whale address, 0xeA00, has offloaded 120 BTC, valued at $10.68 million, and rotated into 3,623 ETH. Nonetheless, not all whale activity points bullish. An early Ethereum whale wallet, 0xb5Ab, deposited 50,000 ETH, worth $145.25 million, into ...