Active trading whales have accumulated more in 2018 than any period in the Ethereum's history despite the ongoing bear market. November closed with whales sitting on a whopping 80% increase versus the start of the year. The tally now for the top ethereum actively trading addresses is a cool $2.3Bn, holding nearly a fifth of Ethereum's circulating supply. But on the balance, big players have come and gone with overall whales holding as much as they did during peak.

Assessing underlying data provided by TokenAnalyst, over 5200 actively traded addresses have held balances that propped them up within the Top 1000 since Ethereum's Genesis.

Today, whales who continue to maintain a balance are an even 500 at the end of November, holding over 20Mn ETH alone, just shy of 20% of the 'super computers' total circulating supply. At the start of the year, whale addresses amounted to 11Mn during peak season, and only 5Mn at the start of 2017.

|| ICO INVESTORS LOOKING FOR THE EXIT?

The massive growth in Ether holdings by active whales could, and most likely is, the result of traders exiting the trading of tokens, most of which have been paired with ETH, which has plummeted by all accounts versus the start of the year (Diar, 26 November).

|| EVEN STEVEN

On an Ether holdings basis, and as a total of whale holdings, the balance is exactly split at the start of December versus the start of the year at peak season indicating that new entrants are yet to come into the space. There are now fewer whale addresses than the start of the year, a drop of nearly 30%, with active traders consolidating further holdings of the circulating supply.

|| COME BACK QUARTER?

Still, despite holdings across major whales being equal since July 2017, and total holdings plummeting in value from $21Bn at the end of January, now standing at only $2.3Bn, the net balance of additions and withdrawals throughout 2018 to date stands at a positive of $1Bn.

While this may not indicate fresh money, 90% of these funds did come through in 1Q18. On quarterly basis, whale net balance growth have closed at anegative since 2017. But 4Q18 with one month left on the calendar stands at a 270% increase versus the previous quarter.