Ethereum Breaks $2,500 as Whale Exit and Hacker Swaps Cloud Breakout

Ethereum has broken above the $2,500 resistance level after a prolonged stretch of bearish pressure and consolidation. The price increase came despite large-scale selling pressure, with a whale exiting with $408 million worth of ETH in five days. The move also coincided with Ethereum's market value to realized value ratio (MVRV) crossing above 1.00 for the first time in 200 consecutive days.

The MVRV reading indicates that average holders are now back in unrealized profit, but it does not guarantee further gains. In fact, holding above $2,300 remains important for the recovery, as a positive MVRV reading can encourage holders to sell once positions return to profit.

According to Alex Thorn from Galaxy research, a Coldcard-linked hacker also began swapping stolen Bitcoin (BTC) for Ether through THORChain. This move added to the selling pressure on Ethereum, but spot Ethereum ETFs have been recording high inflows, reaching $1.85 billion in August.