Deep Dive
1. Whale Selling Pressure (Bearish Impact)
Overview: On-chain data shows wallets linked to BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes sold 696,000 ETHFI (~$543K) on Nov 27, part of a broader exit from altcoins like Monad (MON) and Ethena (ENA). This follows Hayes' Nov 21 sale of 132,730 ETHFI (~$124K).
What this means: Hayes’ trades carry psychological weight given his crypto influence. The concentrated selling (≈0.11% of circulating supply) exacerbated existing liquidity issues, as ETHFI’s 24h volume fell 13% to $29M.
What to look out for: Continued whale deposit patterns on Binance and Bybit (primary ETHFI markets).
2. Technical Weakness (Bearish Impact)
Overview: ETHFI broke below critical support at its 30-day SMA ($0.85) and Fibonacci 23.6% retracement level ($0.75). The RSI (43.67) sits in neutral-bearish territory, while the MACD histogram shows fading bullish momentum.
What this means: Technical traders likely interpreted the breakdown below $0.80 as a signal to reduce positions. The next key support sits at $0.75 (November lows), with resistance at $0.85 needing to be reclaimed for bullish reversal.
3. Sector-Wide Altcoin Weakness (Mixed Impact)
Overview: ETHFI underperformed vs ETH (-1.3% vs ETH’s -0.7%) as Bitcoin dominance rose to 58.68%. Liquid staking tokens faced headwinds from reduced DeFi activity (-60.3% spot volume YoY).
What this means: ETHFI’s correlation with ETH (β ≈ 1.2) and altcoin beta status made it vulnerable to capital rotation into BTC. Protocol revenues held steady ($2.4M monthly), but lacked catalysts to offset macro sentiment.
Conclusion
ETHFI’s dip reflects a trifecta of whale-driven selling, technical breakdowns, and altcoin-unfriendly market conditions. While the protocol’s $50M buyback program (active below $3) provides long-term support, short-term recovery likely requires either a BTC rally above $91K or accelerated ETHFI Cash Card adoption.
Key watch: Can ETHFI hold $0.75 support amid Friday’s $655K liquidation cluster?