Whale wallets are buying Ethereum (ETH), Zcash (ZEC) and HYPE in large amounts, focusing attention on key support levels in the altcoin market. Different types of inflows have been spotted at the same time, ranging from spot buying to 10-times leveraged longs and long-term accumulation. Some in the market interpret this as big investors viewing key price zones as defensive lines.

According to blockchain media outlet BeInCrypto on May 18 (local time), on-chain data in the third week of May repeatedly showed large-scale buying moves by whale wallets.

Ethereum stands out most. A large wallet holding about 131,000 ETH bought an additional 5,001 ETH around $2,119. The purchase was worth about $10.60 million. The wallet is known as an address that made about $1.09 million in profit last month by buying low and selling high.

Markets are also paying attention to the timing of this purchase. Ethereum is recently testing the lower end of an ascending parallel channel, and that price zone overlaps with the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement level around $2,144. If that support holds, $2,385 is mentioned as the next target zone. If the channel breaks, some analysis suggests room for further declines to around $1,920.

On-chain data also showed signs that buy orders were executed in a distributed manner over multiple rounds. Markets see this as closer to a phased accumulation strategy aimed at defending a price zone than a short-term speculative entry.

Zcash showed a more aggressive bet. Wallet address 0x8652 built a 10-times leveraged long position of 36,875 ZEC over about 3 hours. The position was worth about $19.68 million. It is assessed as the largest among on-chain tracked bullish Zcash positions so far.

The liquidation price for the position was shown as $494.55. Zcash is currently testing as support the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement zone around $533. That level overlaps with a key swing high formed late last year.

Markets see whether that support holds as a key variable. If $533 holds, $630 and $750 are cited as the next target zones, but if support fails, the possibility of sliding to around $400 has also been raised. The outlet analysed this as a structure in which the whale investor is effectively betting that the defensive line will hold.

Large buying continued in HYPE, the native token of Hyperliquid. On-chain analysis platform Lookonchain said a wallet believed to be linked to venture capital firm a16z recently bought an additional 372,000 HYPE. The amount was worth about $16.91 million.

The wallet has accumulated about 2.11 million HYPE worth $90.87 million since mid-April, on a cumulative basis. It also showed a flow in which tokens were withdrawn from Bybit and OKX hot wallets and moved to a separate custody address.

Markets interpret this as an accumulation pattern oriented toward long-term holding rather than short-term trading. HYPE is currently attempting to break above $44.50, and the short-term resistance is $50. After that, its all-time high of $59.30 is mentioned as a key target price level.

Some of the transactions were also shown to have been made by the same whale wallet. Wallet '0x8652', which opened the $19.68 million Zcash long position, was also found to be running a 10-times cross long position of 89,200 HYPE at the same time. This means two of the three transactions spotted this week effectively sit in the same trader’s book.

Markets also warn that whale buying itself does not immediately guarantee a rise. Leveraged positions, in particular, can lead to large-scale liquidations if support levels break. Even so, this on-chain flow is emerging as a key short-term altcoin market watch point because it revealed relatively clearly the price levels where big investors put real money to work and the key defensive lines.