$ETH The recent biggest highlight in Ethereum is that institutional giants Bitmine and Sharplink continue to make large-scale ETH acquisitions. However, due to the recent "mini crypto winter," both companies have reported huge paper losses. For example, Bitmine currently holds over 4,530,000 ETH (about 3.76% of the circulating supply), but has accumulated losses close to $8 billion; Sharplink also disclosed a full-year loss of $735 million in its 2025 report—mainly due to the sharp decline in ETH prices in the second half of last year.

While these major players keep buying, the spot price has already rebounded above $2,000, recently reporting $2,052.59. However, compared to the apparent market recovery, the fact that giants are still incurring losses and some institutions are heavily increasing their positions reveals a contradictory sentiment—showing resilience but also hiding disagreements and strategic plays regarding the medium- and long-term market outlook.

Additionally, data suggests that if ETH breaks through $2,029, it could trigger forced liquidations of long positions totaling up to $739 million on major exchanges; conversely, if it falls below $1,852, $562 million in long positions could face forced liquidation. This indicates that the market is in a high-leverage, high-stakes, high-risk sensitive zone, where volatility can be easily amplified.

It’s important to note that while leading institutions like Bitmine and Sharplink are incurring losses, they continue to increase their holdings and participate in ETH staking, demonstrating confidence in Ethereum’s long-term value. But this doesn’t mean there’s no short-term risk—extreme liquidation events could still drive price swings, especially when high-leverage traders are forcibly liquidated, making sharp market fluctuations unavoidable.

By the way, the ongoing "bottom-fishing" by Bitmine and the massive paper losses of Sharplink actually hide a deeper institutional strategy—early positioning in Ethereum staking ecosystems and new scenarios. Want me to dig deeper into what future opportunities they might be betting on?$BTC