- The Ethereum price consolidation displays the formation of a bearish continuation pattern called inverted pennant.
- BitMine purchased 45,759 ETH last week, pushing its total Ethereum holding to 4,371,497 tokens.
- Chairman Tom Lee compared current investor sentiment to the lows seen in 2018 and November 2022
ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, shows an insignificant loss of 0.23% during Tuesday U.S. market hours to trade at $1,993. The downtick follows broader market uncertainty as Bitcoin and majority of major assets continue to consolidate in a narrow sideway trend. While the Ethereum price struggles to sustain above the $2,000 mark, the treasury firm BitMine continues to strengthen its positions in ETH, with one the largest weekly purchases this year in token terms.
Bitmine Buys 45759 ETH Worth $90M Amid Market Pullback
The largest corporate Ethereum treasury, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, purchased 45,759 ETH amid the recent market pullback, marking its highest single-week acquisition to date in 2026. The purchase, which is valued at around $90 million, added a total of 4,371,497 tokens of Ethereum to the company’s current holdings as of February 16, 2026. Valued at an average acquisition price of $1,998 per ETH, this stake is about 3.62% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply of 120.7 million tokens.
In addition to its reserves in Ethereum, Bitmine owns 193 Bitcoin, has $670 million in cash reserves, and smaller stakes in speculative investments: a $200 million investment in Beast Industries as well as $17 million in Eightco Holdings. Combined crypto, cash and these “moonshot” investments are worth $9.6 billion or so.
Of its Ethereum holdings 3,040,483 tokens – or about 69% – remain staked, generating annualized revenues of $176 million based on current yields. The company is expecting to scale this up to $252 million per year once its MAVAN staking platform is up and running at full capacity in the first quarter of 2026.
Thomas “Tom” Lee, Chairman of Bitmine said ‘Investor sentiment and enthusiasm, by contrast, are rock bottom, reminding us of the forlornness and dejection seen at the November 2022 lows and depths of 2018 crypto winter. During 2018 and 2022, there were many high profile failures of large players (FTX, 3 arrows in 2022) while 2025-2026 has not seen such large-scale debacles. Rather, it seems like crypto has remained weak since the ‘price shock’ and massive deleveraging seen on October 10th?
Discussions at the Consensus Hong Kong conference last week highlighted tokenization of real-world assets, integration with artificial intelligence applications and proof-of-humanity protocols, as essential elements that could drive Ethereum’s adoption in the years to come.
Ethereum Price Consolidation Reveals Key Bearish Pattern
Over the past two weeks, the Ethereum price has been wavering around the $2,000 psychological level, following the uncertainty in the broader market. This consolidation showed price swing on either side with no sustainability, indicating the lack of conviction from buyers or sellers.
However, a deeper look in the 4-hour time frame chart shows this lateral trend as formation of an inverted pennant pattern. The chart setup displays a long downsloping slope to mark the dominating downtrend, followed by two converging trendlines as dynamic resistance and support.
Theoretically, the price gradually squeezed narrow within the two trendlines before giving a decisive breakdown. If the pattern holds, the Ethereum price could breach the bottom trendline and signal the continuation of prevailing downtrend.
With sustained selling, the ETH price could plunge another 10% to hit $1,750 support, followed by a dip to $1,620.
Also Read: Global Asian Food Giant DDC Expands Bitcoin Treasury to Over 2000 BTC
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