Key Points
- Ethereum experienced a significant increase in on-chain activity and price rally.
- Small Ethereum holders, known as shrimp and plankton, are accumulating assets instead of selling.
Ethereum has recently seen a surge in on-chain activity.
In addition, smaller holders of Ethereum, often referred to as shrimp and plankton, have been accumulating their holdings rather than selling them.
Ethereum’s Recent Performance
From 1st February to 12th March, Ethereum’s value increased by 82%.
The price then dropped to as low as $3056, before rebounding to $3533.
This pattern of price movement mirrors a consolidation phase that occurred in the second half of January.
On-chain Metrics Indicate a Healthy Network
A detailed examination of relevant metrics reveals similarities between these two periods.
These similarities suggest a bullish bias and indicate a healthy overall network.
For instance, before the recent price drop, Ethereum’s trading volume reached levels not seen in over six months.
The number of daily active addresses also increased, almost reaching the highs of September 2023.
Despite the price drop, the number of daily active addresses remained high, while the trading volume decreased significantly.
The on-chain transaction volume peaked during the January and March highs and then briefly declined during the retracement period, before quickly recovering.
The transaction volume over the past week was low, but the metrics overall closely resemble those from the latter half of January.
Shrimp Holders Accumulating Assets
When smaller holders sell their assets to larger ones, it is typically seen as a bullish sign.
The Ethereum supply distribution chart shows this trend, with wallets holding between 1k and 10k Ethereum, and between 100k and 1 million Ethereum, slowly increasing since 12th March.
Meanwhile, the number of shrimp holders, those with less than 0.1 or 1 Ethereum, also increased.
In contrast, the number of medium-sized holders, those with between 1 and 1k Ethereum, steadily decreased.
This suggests that while medium-sized holders are selling their holdings, both whales and shrimp are continuing to accumulate Ethereum.
The 10k-100k Ethereum bracket also trended downward, challenging the bullish inference.
This shows that accumulation and distribution are not clear-cut, but that smaller Ethereum holders are increasingly holding onto their assets.
