Ethereum price shattered past $4,880 on August 22, logging a fresh all-time high as traders cheered what Michaël van de Poppe called the “moment altcoins go ballistic.”
On-chain data confirms the rally’s intensity, as the ETH open interest surged to a record $33.8 billion. At the same time, exchange reserves plunged to an all-time low of 18.3M ETH, suggesting heavy accumulation.
The bullish performance comes amid a dramatic uptick in trading activity. Per CoinMarketCap, ETH’s 24-hour volume doubled to $81.0 billion (+131%), driving its market cap to $569.4B.
Ethereum Sees Institutional Flows
Adoption headlines are stacking up. On August 21, Singapore’s DBS Bank launched Ethereum-based tokenized structured notes for accredited investors, enabling faster settlements on-chain.
This follows corporate moves last week as Nasdaq-listed BitMine Immersion and SharpLink Gaming added $220M and $667M worth of ETH to their treasuries, respectively.
Meanwhile, Lookonchain revealed Trump’s World Liberty bought 1,076 ETH ($5M) at $4,670, highlighting a growing appetite for Ether among politically connected corporate entities.
This surge in direct accumulation offsets weakness in ETFs. BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale’s ETH funds saw $533M in net outflows on August 21, yet public companies absorbed the selling, snapping up over 200,000 ETH ($888M) in the same window.
The net result was a reduced sell-side liquidity, with ETH exchange netflows turning sharply negative at -40k ETH/day this week.
As Van de Poppe noted, altcoins remain undervalued, still down 70% from December 2024 levels, but macro tailwinds, falling rates, and rising RWA adoption suggest the cycle is warming up.
Van de Poppe Predicts 10x as Altcoin Market Cap Eyes ATH
Ethereum’s breakout sets the stage for a broader altcoin rally. Michaël Van de Poppe highlighted on August 22 that the altcoin market cap is on the verge of breaking ATH levels. The last time this happened, in Q4 2023, select altcoins ran 10x.
Charts support his optimism. ETH’s breakout above $4,200 triggered cascading liquidations of shorts, propelling the price to $4,717 before the most recent highs.
Further, technical indicators on TradingView flash bullish. RSI sits near 64, leaving room before overbought territory, while MACD momentum has flipped positive. Support is visible at $4,270–$4,300, with resistance targets at $5,000.
On-chain positioning also skews bullish. Open interest expansion paired with falling exchange balances reflects leveraged bets aligned with accumulation, classic bull market behavior.
