ETH Climbs Rapidly On Hormuz Reopening, Ethereum Whale ‘Buying Groceries’ Sparks Buzz

• Ethereum jumped within an hour after news of the Strait of Hormuz reopening, triggering a rapid derivatives-driven rally.
• Binance recorded over $1.72 billion in Ethereum buy activity, as traders rushed to take positions.
• The move sparked a short squeeze, liquidating about $24 million in positions and pushing prices higher.

Ethereum (ETH) surged sharply within an hour on Saturday after the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was announced, as an on-chain analyst flagged a sudden spike in derivatives activity.

According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, the move was driven by a sudden surge in buying activity, as traders rushed to take positions following the announcement. Binance alone recorded more than $1.72 billion worth of Ethereum buy orders in the derivatives market within a single hour, the analyst said.

As prices climbed, traders who had bet against Ethereum were forced to close their positions, buying back the asset to limit losses. This triggered a short squeeze, where roughly $24 million in short positions were liquidated on Binance, further pushing prices higher.

Ethereum’s price was trading at $2,349, up by 0.1% over the past 24 hours after the sharp move. Before the surge, funding rates were deeply negative of 0.004%, indicating that a majority of traders were positioned short, the on-chain analyst reported. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around ETH remained in the ‘bullish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed in the ‘high’ levels over the past day.

The price action followed reports of progress in US-Iran negotiations and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels. However, the strait has reportedly been closed again.

Whale Activity Resurfaces

The surge also came as activity from large Ethereum holders drew attention across the market.

Arkham Intelligence flagged that a “HyperUnit” whale wallet linked to early crypto investor Garrett Jin became active again on Saturday after a period of dormancy. The wallet, associated with holdings worth billions, moved $400 worth of Ethereum in a recent transaction, which Arkham described as ‘buying groceries,’ in a lighthearted remark. 

Separately, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned users against visiting certain Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains on Saturday, following a reported attack on the domain name system (DNS) registrar for eth.limo.

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