Ethereum Price Forecast: BitMine makes largest ETH purchase in 2026 amid price decline

Ethereum price today: $1,660

• Ethereum treasury BitMine Immersion acquired 126,971 ETH last week, marking its largest purchase of 2026.
• BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee says the recent crypto sell-off is "superficial."
• Bulls eye a reclaim of $1,740 after ETH bounced off the support near $1,524 over the weekend.

Ethereum (ETH) treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) acquired 126,971 ETH last week following the top altcoin's decline toward the $1,500 region.

The purchase, which represents its largest weekly ETH acquisition in 2026, has pushed the company's holdings to 5.54 million ETH. BitMine claims it now holds 4.59% of ETH's supply, bringing the company another step closer to its original goal of acquiring 5% of ETH's circulation. The company said it will reach that goal before the year pans out.

"We increased our buying as we believe this pullback in ETH prices does not reflect the strengthening of Ethereum's fundamentals," said BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee. Despite the strong market correction, Lee maintained that the current environment reflects the early stages of a crypto spring.

He also argued that Ethereum could benefit from the expansion of agentic AI systems.

"As AI systems' capabilities improve, the demand for decentralized and hardened solutions will likely increase, particularly to protect users from agentic systems. AI systems are going to find flaws in centralized financial services rails and weak decentralized protocols," noted Lee. "We believe this actually strengthens the use case and product market fit for hardened and reliable decentralized blockchains like ethereum. Thus, we believe ETH prices should not be coming under pressure."

BitMine also reported a balance of 204 Bitcoin (BTC), an $180 million stake in Beast Industries, an $88 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS) and total cash of $247 million.

Last week, BitMine filed to launch 3.5 million of its Series A perpetual preferred stock, joining a similar playbook used by Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy.

BMNR closed at $16.85 on Monday, reflecting a 5.9% gain.

Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH faces $1,740 resistance after weekend bounce off $1,500

Ethereum has experienced roughly $66.3 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, led by $33.8 million in long liquidations.

On the daily chart, ETH maintains a bearish near-term tone, with price sitting well below the 20-, 50- and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), clustered between roughly $1,876 and $2,187. This configuration suggests the broader trend remains pressured, while the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) near 27 and the Stochastic at 26 indicate oversold conditions, hinting at stretched downside momentum rather than a confirmed reversal.

On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the horizontal level near $1,741, followed by $1,806 and the 20-day EMA at about $1,876. Further hurdles are at $1,909 and $2,019 before the 50-day EMA around $2,043, with additional barriers at $2,108 and the 100-day EMA near $2,187.

On the downside, immediate support is seen at $1,524, where bulls defended over the weekend. A deeper floor appears near $1,405, where buyers would be expected to defend the broader range if the decline extends.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)