BitMine’s Tom Lee said “bots” and year-end tax-related selling were driving Ethereum’s recent price weakness, even as the firm added another 44,463 ETH tokens.
In a post on X, Lee said market conditions in the final days of December are typically distorted as institutional investors step away for the holidays, as Ethereum continues to trade below $3,000.
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BitMine Buys Ethereum
Despite the price slump, BitMine said it continued to accumulate Ethereum into the end of the year.
The company said in a statement that it added 44,463 ETH over the past week, taking advantage of year-end selling pressure.
As of Dec. 28, BitMine held about 4.11 million ETH valued at $2,948 per token, representing roughly 3.4% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.
“Market activity tends to slow as we enter the final holiday weeks of a calendar year,” Lee said.
Adding: “Year-end tax-loss related selling is pushing down crypto and crypto equity prices, and this effect tends to be the greatest from Dec. 26 to Dec. 30, so we are navigating markets with this in mind.”
BitMine said its total crypto holdings, cash, and strategic investments now amount to $13.2 billion, making it the largest Ethereum treasury in the world.
Tom Lee’s Ethereum Theory
In a post promoting the latest buy, Lee said the late-December pullback was consistent with seasonal trading patterns.
“Typically, in these last holiday trading days, many institutional investors have stepped away from markets,” Lee said.
That dynamic, he said, leaves markets more heavily influenced by automated trading systems and year-end tax-loss selling.
“As a result, trading is dominated by bots and other automated strategies, along with tax-loss related selling.
“This is the usual dynamic in the final days of December.”
Ethereum Price Outlook
Ethereum was trading below $2,971 on Wednesday, up almost 5% in the last 30 days.
However, analysts say near-term risks remain skewed to the downside.
Victor Olanrewaju, an analyst at CCN, said Ethereum remains vulnerable to declines, pointing to rising exchange reserves as a key concern.
“Despite the uncertainty surrounding Bitcoin’s recent on-chain movements, Ethereum’s price still appears exposed to additional downside risk,” Olanrewaju said.
“When exchange reserves increase, it usually suggests more coins are being positioned for liquidity. Historically, sustained increases in reserves tend to correlate with price weakness.”
Data from CryptoQuant shows Ethereum’s exchange reserves have climbed to their highest level in more than a month.
If the trend continues, Olanrewaju said, Ether could slide toward the $2,500 level.
