Ethereum Drops 6% as Whales Rush to Cash Out, What’s Ahead?

Ethereum ETH $4 298 24h volatility: 1.5% Market cap: $518.27 B Vol. 24h: $43.88 B slumped nearly 6% on Thursday, trading around $4,260 at press time as major whales and traders rushed to book profits after an aggressive rally that had briefly pushed prices toward $4,700.

The sell-off sparked volatility across the broader market, with Ethereum-based NFTs also taking a sharp hit.

Whales Exit, Then Re-Enter

Blockchain tracker Lookonchain flagged a string of whale moves that indicated uncertainty among traders.

Whale wallet 0x89Da closed a 21,683 ETH ($93.5 million) long position at a $6.6 million loss, withdrawing 9.6M USDC from Hyperliquid HYPE $42.81 24h volatility: 4.3% Market cap: $14.30 B Vol. 24h: $297.95 M . But he quickly jumped back in, opening another long worth 15,353 ETH ($65.6 million).

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Back at the tables already—gamblers never quit.

Whale 0x89Da is back with 9.6M $USDC and opened a long position of 15,353 $ETH($65.6M) again.https://t.co/pJkXaSdZif pic.twitter.com/SIlrhs7UIH

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 18, 2025

At the same time, another trader, starting with just $125K four months ago, compounded his gains to build a staggering 66,749 ETH ($303 million) position, peaking at $43 million in account equity.

He later closed out, walking away with $6.86M in profits, a remarkable 55x return, even if far from the peak.

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This legendary trader has closed all 66,749 $ETH($303M) longs, locking in a profit of $6.86M(55x)!

Starting with only $125K, his total account equity peaked at over $43M(a 344x return), but now stands at $6.99M(a 55x return) after closing.https://t.co/E0iU5Pk3Q6 pic.twitter.com/NHMicKo6b3

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 18, 2025

Chaos in the Market

Meanwhile, swing trader 0x8062 panic-sold 2,277 ETH ($9.57M) at $4,203, locking in $4 million in profits despite high slippage.

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Due to the market drop, swing trader 0x8062 panic-sold 2,277 $ETH($9.57M) at $4,203 with high on-chain slippage, locking in a profit of $4.04M.https://t.co/qwmiFMrfxp pic.twitter.com/oyqpFe8cOD

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 18, 2025

On the other hand, whale 0xd8d0 executed a double play, selling 10,000 stETH ($38.1 million) and 398 BTC ($46.4 million) BTC $115 980 24h volatility: 0.1% Market cap: $2.31 T Vol. 24h: $42.73 B for 84.9 million USDC before reloading, using nearly the same sum to repurchase 10,000 ETH ($43.4 million) and 350 BTC ($40.5 million) during the dip.

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During the market drop, the swing-trading OTC whale 0xd8d0 spent 83.96M $USDC to buy 10,000 $ETH($43.43M) and 350 $BTC($40.53M).https://t.co/gEIIUqu18H pic.twitter.com/nBwy5itKgm

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 18, 2025

NFT Market Suffers Parallel Blow

The fallout from ETH’s drop rippled into the non-fungible token (NFT) market, which shed $1.2 billion in value in less than a week.

According to NFT Price Floor data, total NFT market capitalization sank to $8.1 billion from a Wednesday peak of $9.3B, a 12% decline.

Since most NFT collections are priced in ETH, swings in Ethereum’s valuation directly impact NFT floors. With ETH sliding 9% from its recent high, many top collections also corrected sharply.

ETH Price Analysis: Key Resistance Blocks Path

The weekly chart shows ETH trading within a broad ascending channel, with the recent rejection occurring near the channel’s upper resistance at around $4,500–$4,700. The dip toward $4,260 suggests short-term profit-taking after testing the resistance.

With the RSI (67.8) near overbought and the MACD indicating bullish momentum, the CMF suggests that ETH price drop could attract more buyers, making it a top crypto to buy in 2025.

If ETH holds above $4,200 support, a rebound toward $4,600–$4,700 is possible, keeping the bullish channel intact.

However, a breakdown below $4,200 could expose the $3,800–$3,900 zone as the next major support, where the lower channel line aligns with historical price action.

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