Ethereum Dump Alert: Whales Turn Against ETH Price, But There’s a Catch

Key Insights:

• Ethereum saw a $418.8 million net sell-off on August 5, led by whales and retail traders.
• Wallets moved over $68 million worth of ETH to exchanges, hinting at planned exits.
• ETF inflows, including $88.8 million into BlackRock’s ETHA, show continued institutional interest.

The largest altcoin, Ethereum, saw a big wave of selling on August 5, 2025, with traders offloading over $400 million worth of ETH.

Meanwhile, ETFs added new capital, showing a split between short-term traders and long-term buyers.

Whales and Traders Sell Over $400 Million Worth of Ethereum

Ethereum came under pressure on August 5 as large holders and retail traders reduced their positions.

According to Cryptoquant analysis, the net taker volume for the day dropped by $418.8 million.

This figure shows the difference between aggressive buying and aggressive selling. A negative number like this means more people used market orders to sell than to buy.

Two large wallets helped drive this selloff. One address, 0xc156, moved 13,459 ETH to Binance. That was worth about $49 million.

Another address, 0x46DB, sent 5,504 ETH to OKX, a transaction valued at around $19.8 million. These types of transactions often signal an intent to sell, especially when sent to major exchanges.

Market orders are used by traders who want to exit quickly. This type of selling often points to a loss of confidence in price holding steady in the short term.

Similarly, many retail traders followed the same path, cutting back their exposure. Still, the picture was not one-sided.

At the same time these selloffs were happening, Ethereum ETFs were showing new inflows.

Data from various ETF issuers showed that $73.3 million entered Ethereum-related funds that day, including from large firms like BlackRock and Bitwise.

ETF Activity Shows Long-Term Interest Is Still Strong

It is worth mentioning that even though the price faced selling pressure, ETF data told a different story.

Likewise, on August 5, ETHA, one of the ETFs backed by BlackRock, recorded $88.8 million in inflows.

Per the update, this came after several days of mixed activity across different products.

Other ETFs also had small additions as Bitwise and VanEck’s funds showed positive, but smaller entries.

However, Grayscale’s products, such as ETHE and ETHF, continued to show outflows.

These ETFs are mostly used by retail investors. That might explain why they were more affected by the recent panic selling.

The steady inflows into bigger ETFs suggest that some buyers are still confident about Ethereum’s future.

Institutional investors or treasury-backed firms might be taking advantage of the recent pullback to add more ETH at lower prices.

More importantly, while many small traders were exiting, some big players were still buying.

Traders Watch Key ETH Price Zones

It is worth mentioning that as the price of Ethereum changes, many traders are now watching two important levels.

Some see $3,200 as a good point to buy in. Others believe that if the price climbs past $3,800 and stays there by the end of the week, it could keep rising.

If that happens, some people think Ethereum price could go up to $6,000 or even $7,000 before the year ends.

Arthur Hayes, the former Bitmex CEO, also thinks it might reach $10,000 by the end of 2025.

In the background, Ethereum developers also released a new fee proposal called EIP-7999.

The current system makes users estimate separate costs for computing, storage, and other resources.

The new plan would let users set a total limit for all fees in one go. This might make transactions easier and faster to approve.

For now, Ethereum’s direction remains unclear. Short-term selling is strong, but long-term buying continues in the background.

Whether bulls or bears take control next will depend on what happens at these key price levels and how the market reacts to the upcoming fee changes.