The largest altcoin by market cap has been among the biggest underperformers during the late 2024/early 2025 bull run, which saw many assets, including BTC, chart fresh peaks.

ETH’s most recent performance has been even more painful, as the asset dumped to its lowest level since November 2023 at under $1,800. The question raised now by analysts is whether ETH will continue losing ground and dump to $1,250.

ETH at $1,250?

Remember 2021? Back then, ETH was charting massive gains and its price soared toward $5,000. In fact, speculations emerged about a potential event called the ‘flippening,’ in which Ethereum could surpass Bitcoin and become the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

Fast-forward some three and a half years later and that seems as distant from reality as fiat money becoming disinflationary. ETH bottomed below $1,000 during the 2022 bear market but went on the offensive again two years later. It failed to decisively overcome the $4,000 target despite its numerous attempts to conquer it in 2024. The latest rejection came in mid-December.

Since then, ETH’s price has nosedived hard, which culminated (for now) earlier this week with a drop below $1,800. As such, Ethereum not only erased all the gains registered after Trump’s presidential election victory but even plunged to its lowest levels since November 2023.

According to Ali Martinez, a crypto analyst with over 130,000 followers on X, the asset’s price drop meant that it had broken out of a years-long parallel channel, which could spell further trouble. In fact, he forecasted a slump to $1,250 – a level not seen in over two years.

#Ethereum $ETH targets $1,250 after breaking out from this parallel channel! pic.twitter.com/XS3N9p8Unr

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 14, 2025

But ETH Whales Keep Buying

CryptoPotato has repeatedly reported in recent weeks Ethereum whales’ predominantly bullish behavior. Recall that within a 48-hour period alone, they accumulated 1.1 million ETH, which is nearly 1% of the total supply. At the prices back then, it was worth over $2 billion in USD.

Martinez brought another chart showing that these large entities acquired more than 420,000 ETH in the following five days, valued at $800 million at today’s prices. Such massive accumulations should benefit the underlying asset as they decrease the immediate selling pressure. However, ETH’s price is yet to stage a notable recovery as it still sits below $2,000.

Whales have bought more than 420,000 #Ethereum $ETH in the last five days! pic.twitter.com/ZFF57gbq0e

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 14, 2025

Bitcoin’s price recovered from a massive drop to a four-month low earlier this week and sits about seven grand higher now.

Analysts believe that it could continue climbing and reach $90,000 as long as it remains above the $84,000 support level, which is being tested now.

Whales Buying, BTC Rising

Large BTC wallets, typically referred to as whales or sharks, are crucial to the asset’s price movements due to their ability to purchase or offload massive portions in a rather short timeframe that could impact the entire market.

After months of accumulating before and during the run toward $110,000, they changed their stance in early February following Trump’s tariffs against several countries. Inevitably, BTC’s price tumbled, and its most recent bottom came earlier this week with a drop below $77,000 – a four-month low.

During this correction, though, whales and sharks reversed their strategy once again and began accumulating more of the asset. The last few days of the business week saw another buying spree, with more than 20,000 BTC going into their wallets, according to Ali Martinez, who cited data from Santiment. In terms of USD value, this stash is worth close to $1.7 billion.

Whales have bought over 20,000 #Bitcoin $BTC in the last 48 hours! pic.twitter.com/5e6eLvYEiN

— Ali (@ali_charts) March 14, 2025

The popular analyst told his 130,000 followers on X that bitcoin could surge to $90,000 as long as the $84,000 support, which is being tested as of press time, holds.

Leveraged Run?

Although whales purchasing substantial portions of BTC within a few days could indeed impact bitcoin’s price, as well as the entire market, which has jumped since Thursday, CryptoQuant’s Maartunn outlined another possible reason behind the relief rally.

He noted that the Bitcoin Open Interest had increased by about 13% from the recent lows and is close to $28 billion now. Consequently, he warned that this surge could be driven by a large number of leveraged positions, which is a double-edged sword. In case of a rapid BTC price crash, those leveraged longs could result in a massive liquidation cascade, as we have witnessed on a few occasions since the February correction.

Leverage Driven Pump!

Bitcoin Open Interest rises to $27.9 billion, marking a $3.3 billion (+13%) increase from its recent low. pic.twitter.com/e2nAisQ132

— Maartunn (@JA_Maartun) March 14, 2025

TL;DR

• Ripple’s cross-border token recently broke out of a years-long technical pattern that suggests another rally is around the corner.
• Popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez outlined a slightly ridiculous price tag of $15, which would require a mindblowing surge.

Being one of the largest cryptocurrencies for roughly a decade, XRP has attracted a substantial community that remains bullish no matter the current developments.

Although the asset struggled for years after the 2017/2018 cycle, they kept making bold predictions and some of their faith was rewarded after the US presidential elections when XRP jumped from under $0.6 to match its 2018 ATH of $3.4.

However, it couldn’t keep the momentum going, and the subsequent market-wide crash pushed it south hard. As of now, Ripple’s token, which could soon be categorized as a commodity in the US, trades at around $2.38.

The positive predictions continue, and the latest to highlight a notable target for XRP was Ali Martinez, who said:

“Since January 2018, XRP appears to be forming a symmetrical triangle pattern, indicating a potential bullish continuation where every lower high XRP made created a descending trendline at the top and every higher low created a rising trendline at the bottom. Now that XRP has broken out of the triangle, there’s a chance XRP can continue rising to reach a target of $15.”

The aforementioned current price tag means that the asset needs to surge by approximately 530% to reach that line, which sounds somewhat outrageous given the market conditions as of late. Moreover, it would put its market cap at close to $900 billion, which would be a lot higher than ETH and close to BTC.

Although the $15 target does seem difficult to achieve, let’s not forget that XRP skyrocketed by 470% in mere months after the elections. Moreover, a potentially favorable resolution in the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit and an approved XRP ETF could boost the asset north once again.