Back in September, when Ethereum (ETH) was sitting just 10% below its all-time high, trader Andrew Kang did something bold. He torched Tom Lee's bullish ETH case in public, calling it "deeply flawed" and "financially illiterate." That's not exactly subtle.

Kang's argument cut deep. He said Ethereum's valuation relies far more on macro liquidity and speculative hype than genuine structural fundamentals. He flagged limited stablecoin and real-world asset adoption, questionable institutional staking dynamics, and a valuation that doesn't align with actual financial infrastructure. His conclusion? Without major changes, ETH would underperform and stay range-bound.

The Market Answered

Less than two months later, Ethereum has collapsed 32.3%. That's a massive wealth wipeout, and it's giving Kang's bearish prediction serious credibility. He doubled down in October, noting ETH's "strength has limits" and saying he'd been bearish since the ETH/BTC ratio hit 0.07.

Now the crypto sits below the critical $3,000 level, and analysts are getting nervous. Crypto analyst Ted Pillows says ETH briefly dipped under $2,900 before bouncing, but the real test is reclaiming $3,200. Without that, he warns, "will result in a bigger correction."

Follow The Money

Here's where it gets interesting. Pillows points out that BlackRock sold $1.1 billion in ETH during November—a dramatic reversal from earlier institutional buying. October's selloff came from Asian whales, but November's pain was inflicted by U.S. institutions.

Trader Niels highlights another dynamic: about 18% of ETH has quietly left exchanges in this cycle's final stretch, moving into ETFs and institutional custody. These holders accumulate and hold, they don't trade. That shrinks liquid supply and could eventually set up a volatile squeeze.

Meanwhile, trader Machi got partially liquidated on a 25x ETH long position, losing over $20 million. That's the kind of pain that shows just how much pressure this market is under.