How Ethereum inactive addresses are shifting from HODLing to trading

• Dormant addresses have been moving their coins into exchanges amid rising social dominance.
• ETH’s volatility increased as traders continue to bet on a price increase.

Lately, the attention Ethereum [ETH] has received from market participants has been extremely high, according to on-chain analytic platform Santiment. To arrive at this conclusion, Santiment engaged the social dominance relating to the project.

How much are 1,10,100 ETHs worth today?

Social dominance is measured by looking at the percentage of discussion of one asset compared to others in the top 100 market cap list. 

Change in the status quo

According to the on-chain info provider, discussions around Ethereum have been very active on crypto-friendly social media including Telegram, X (formerly Twitter), Discord, and Telegram.

🗣️📊 The rate of #Ethereum discussions on #X, #Discord, #Telegram, #Reddit, and #4chan have been much higher than usual since late September. Additionally, there has been an Age Consumed spike, showing the most dormant $ETH has moved in a month. https://t.co/jDtfuB9yeI pic.twitter.com/4tP0GrXNcr

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) October 12, 2023

However, the hike in social dominance has not occurred without a jump in another metric. From the post above, another metric that increased was the Age Consumed. As a metric tracking long-term behavior, the Age Consumed measures the movement of previously dormant addresses.

Typically, when Ethereum held in dormant wallets increase, the Age Consumed spikes. As of 11 October, ETH’s Age Consumed was 205.32 million. The surge implies a revival in Ethereum’s network. It also reflects how ETH holders are moving from long-term holding to active trading. 

Between June and August, there were only mild spikes in the Age Consumed. But since September, there has been a considerable increase in the number of stagnant addresses that have woken up.

Hence, it is not out of place to conclude that these Ethereum investors may be trying to capitalize on short-term price movement. This increase was also evident in the on-chain volume. From Santiment’s data, ETH’s volume surpassed five billion on a number of occasions in the last 30 days.

Source: Santiment

Risk sometimes begets reward

The hike in the on-chain volume suggests a surge in the transfer of ETH from external sources into exchanges. Historically, the surge in Age Consumed has been known to bring about an increase in volatility. It was no different this time.

At the time of writing, ETH’s seven-day price volatility was up to 0.024 (as displayed above). Generally, the higher the volatility, the riskier it is to trade the asset.

However, the hike in volatility also happens to create a high degree of rapid price movements which traders willing to take the risk can benefit from.  

Well, ETH’s one-week funding rate showed that traders are more inclined toward a price increase than a significant decline. Funding rates are a small percentage of a position’s value paid to traders from the other side of the trade.

Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price Prediction 2023-2024

When the funding rate is positive, it means longs pay shorts a fee and the broader sentiment is bullish. Conversely, a negative funding rate means short pay longs and the expected trend for the asset is downwards.

At press time, ETH’s funding rate was 0.004%, implying that traders expect the altcoin value to move towards $1,600 in the short term. 

Source: TradingView