After spending a few weeks fighting the key $2,500 resistance, the largest altcoin exploded on Friday and surged well past it, reaching its highest level since late January of $2,660 before it was halted.

The 8% move was quite unexpected, as it occurred within an hour or so, prompting many questions in the community about who or what was behind it and what’s next.

Whales Behind The Surge?

According to data shared by popular analyst Ali Martinez, Ethereum whales played a substantial role in finally breaking the barrier, even for a short time. Ethereum transactions worth more than $1 million increased by almost 14% during the rally, suggesting a significant uptick in activity from these large market participants.

Within less than two hours, the underlying asset posted one of its most impressive wicks this year, climbing from under $2,440 to $2,667 before it was stopped. The move north followed several encouraging on-chain signals identified by the analyst earlier this week.

CryptoPotato reported before that more than 116,000 ETH, worth around $300 million at the time, was withdrawn from exchanges within a 48-hour period. Such developments reduce the amount of the asset immediately available for trading.

In addition, Martinez identified $2,475 as an important resistance zone that has now turned into support, where approximately 2.86 million ETH had previously changed hands.

As we said at the time, his bullish thesis envisioned a surge toward approximately $2,700 if ETH is able to break through $2,530.

What’s Next for ETH?

Despite the impressive rally on Friday, the bears were quick to step up and didn’t allow ETH to exceed $2,700 or even retain much of the gains. The asset is now back at just over $2,500, and the next challenge could be even harder.

On-chain data shows that more than 10 million ETH were previously acquired between $2,720 and $2,820, which creates a substantial resistance zone. Investors who bought within that range could dispose of their assets if ETH returns toward their cost basis, especially since they have been waiting for a while for such prices.

Aside from the technical perspective, risk-on assets like BTC and the altcoins face a massive test next week as the Federal Reserve is expected to hike the interest rates on September 16. A day earlier, the US Senate is scheduled to vote on the CLARITY Act, which is likely to bring more volatility to the table.

Source: CryptoPotato