ambcrypto.com
14 October 2026 18:54, UTC
The market is continuing to bet heavily on the potential altseason.
Technically, the setup looks more and more interesting. Following the $ETH/$BTC 20% rally in Q3, traders are already positioning for another move higher in Q4, with early accumulation signs starting to show.
However, Bitcoin dominance has broken over 60%, indicating that capital is still flowing towards the flagship crypto, which makes a general altcoin breakout not so certain for now.
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And yet, Lookonchain spotted a big whale rotation in the last three days. The whale sold 1,074.36 $BTC equal to $89.5 million and bought 36,159 $ETH.
Naturally, the question becomes: Is this whale positioning ahead of a potential Ethereum rally, with the border market now catching up to the hype?
From an on-chain perspective, this does seem to be the case.
According to Santiment data, Ethereum FOMO is growing, with $ETH rapidly becoming a favorite among bulls. On X, Reddit, and Telegram, $ETH is registering 2.05 bullish comments for every bearish comment.
Bitcoin is the opposite, with 0.82 bullish comments per bearish comment. Rejected levels around $87k, a slide toward $81k, heavy liquidation of long positions, and macro pressure have pushed sentiment toward fear.
Notably, this shift is also seen in the derivatives market. As the post above highlights, $ETH/$BTC longs are going parabolic as Bitfinex traders are increasingly betting on Ethereum [$ETH] to outperform Bitcoin [$BTC].
In short, traders are positioning for an $ETH-led rally, potentially hinting at an early rotation into altcoins.
The timing of this rotation between $BTC and $ETH is crucial.
An analyst recently reported that $6 billion in USDC had been minted this month, adding fresh liquidity to the crypto market. However, with $BTC dominance of over 60%, it appears that Bitcoin is still gathering the most capital.
However, according to data from CryptoQuant, this may be about to change.
As the chart below shows, the amount of $USDT borrowed by users who hold $10 million or more in $BTC has jumped by 83% last month. This suggests that whales have used their $BTC as collateral to unlock funds and buy more crypto. In short, risk appetite may soon be on the rise.
This is where on-chain signals start to converge. Whale rotation is picking up, $ETH longs are increasing, and $ETH/$BTC gained 20% in Q3.
Now, with $USDT borrowing against $BTC jumping 83%, traders could be positioning for another Ethereum/Bitcoin rally and a subsequent rotation into altcoins in Q4.
