Ether surged with a strong 29% increase, breaking the $3,000 barrier for the first time since August. However, its bullish momentum has decelerated, even as Bitcoin advanced by 13% recently. Despite this slowdown, recent data indicates that Ethereum whales might be viewing the current price as an opportune moment for long-term accumulation.

In the third quarter, whale activity was particularly active within the Ethereum ecosystem. Large wallets relentlessly offloaded ETH, impacting the market.

Yet, as ETH prices rallied by 23% entering the fourth quarter, a new whale account emerged on the scene. Lookonchain, an onchain wallet tracking service, noted that a recently-created whale wallet amassed 7,389.5 ETH, worth $23.44 million, within a mere 24 hours.

Since becoming active on November 9, this wallet has acquired over 18,000 ETH at an average rate of $3,201. The total value of these holdings now stands at approximately $57.8 million. Intriguingly, this wallet is invested solely in Ethereum and holds $19.3 million in Tether (USDT), hinting at potential further acquisitions should market conditions become favorable.

In an earlier report, Cointelegraph detailed the remarkable journey of a 2016 ETH whale, who realized an 80,000% return, converting a $38,000 investment into over $30 million. This entity moved 11,000 ETH when prices were near $2,777. Similarly, from 2017-2018, another ETH holder amassed 23,743 ETH at around $11 each and relocated 6,250 ETH, valued at $20 million, to Kraken last week.

These historical patterns underscore the trend of Ethereum ICO whales offloading their ETH on Kraken.

Currently, Ethereum faces significant resistance at $3,500. Although Bitcoin is experiencing price discovery, Ethereum is yet to surpass its previous all-time high of $4,878 from 2021. This resistance is widely observed by traders like Eddie, who highlighted that Ether's recent rally to $3,450 approached the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level, coexisting with a supply zone from $3,550 to $3,050.

Eddie elaborated, "Ethereum is contending with resistance at the onset of the critical supply sector between $3,100 and $3,500. More market activity is necessary to navigate past it."

Technical analyses reveal that Ethereum's recent daily candles closed on a downside, suggesting a brewing retest of the fair value gap (FVG) between $3,072 and $2,987. This zone comprises a crucial order block and the 50-EMA level support on the four-hour chart, potentially acting as a springboard should ETH reclaim its bullish trajectory.