Ethereum above $2,300: is BitMine fueling the next big rally?

The cryptocurrency market has started the week on a positive note, shrugging off the effects of the ongoing US-Iran conflict.

Bitcoin briefly touched the $76,000 level earlier today, while Ether is now trading above $2,300 per coin.

Ether’s strong performance comes as Ethereum treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies expanded its holdings last week, acquiring 60,999 ETH in one of its largest weekly purchases in recent months.

BitMine’s Ether holdings surpass 4.5 million

Ether is up 2% over the last 24 hours and is now trading at $2,313 per coin.

This follows BitMine’s announcement on Monday that it had acquired 60,999 ETH the previous week.

With this latest purchase, BitMine now holds 4.59 million ETH, representing approximately 3.81% of the circulating supply.

The company is now more than 76% of the way toward its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s supply under its “alchemy of 5%” strategy.

BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said the company is accelerating its accumulation pace, as it believes ETH is nearing the final stages of the ‘mini crypto winter.’

Lee also pointed to the strong performance of the crypto market amid geopolitical tensions.

“Since the start of the Iran war, crypto prices have outperformed, and Ethereum has outperformed the S&P 500 by 2,450bp. This is a meaningful outperformance in a mere two weeks,” he added.

Lee also linked the trend to broader macroeconomic conditions and shifting investor behavior.

He noted that higher oil prices are raising concerns about slowing global growth.

As a result, when investors worry about growth, they tend to buy ‘growth assets,’ including MAG7 stocks, software, and crypto.

The company also disclosed that it purchased 5,000 ETH directly from the Ethereum Foundation to support its operations without forcing it to sell tokens in the open market.

Finally, BitMine continues to stake a large portion of its holdings, with over 3 million ETH deployed across staking protocols.

Ether faces rejection at $2,380

The ETH/USD pair has turned bullish after Ether took out the Transactional Liquidity (TLQ) on the 4-hour chart.

The coin faced rejection at $2,389 after clearing the TLQ liquidity, suggesting that buyers remain in control of the market.

Similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum saw $234.4 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, driven largely by $204.2 million in short liquidations.

The near-term bias remains mildly bullish, as price continues to trade above the 20-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA).

The Relative Strength Index (RSI), around 73, indicates strong upward momentum and is approaching overbought territory.

The MACD lines are also in positive territory, reinforcing the bullish outlook.

Ether is reacting from the initial resistance at $2,389, pulling back to trade around $2,313.

If bulls manage to break above this resistance level, it could open the door for a sustained rally toward $2,746 and then $3,411.

However, if the bulls fail to take out the resistance, then support emerges at the 20-day EMA near $2,108

A drop below that level would expose ETH to further drops toward $1,740 and then $1,524, where prior demand stands out on the broader daily structure.