Update December 29, 1:40 p.m. UTC: This article has been updated to incorporate Trend Research's latest Ether purchase value $48 million.
Hong Kong-based investment firm Trend Research has continued to extend its holdings of Ether, at the same time as one in all the most important corporate ETH holders expects a pointy decline in the primary quarter of 2026.
According to blockchain data platform Lookonchain, Trend Research has acquired $35 million value of Ether (ETH), increasing its holdings to over 601,000 ETH value around $1.83 billion.
Lookonchain wrote in a post on Monday
Trend founder Jack Yi said he was “optimistic” on crypto for the primary half of 2026 and vowed to proceed buying Ether “until the bull market arrives,” with a “maximum position in ETH” and a “strong” position within the Trump family-linked World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token.
He added that “2026 may even be an environment with broad positive points equivalent to on-chain finance, stablecoins, rate of interest cutting cycles and crypto policy.”
Source: Lookonchain
While BitMine Immersion Technologies, the most important corporate Ether holder, relies on dollar-cost averaging, Trend Research promised to proceed purchasing Ether no matter “fluctuations of a number of hundred dollars.”
Trend Research is the third-largest Ether holder behind Bitmine and SharpLink Gaming, but as an unlisted company it doesn’t appear on most tracking web sites, including StrategicEthReserve.
Trend Research acquired an extra 16,078 Ether value $48 million on Monday, surpassing the entire ETH holdings of 607,828, in accordance with blockchain data platform Arkham.
FundStrat calls ETH low price of $1,800 while smart money is shorting ETH price
Yi's optimistic outlook contrasts with findings from Fundstrat Global Advisors, which predicted that Ether will fall to an area low of around $1,800 in the primary quarter of 2026.
On December 21, screenshots surfaced of an internal research note from Fundstrat's co-founder and managing partner Tom Lee, which predicted a “significant decline” for the primary half of next 12 months:
“MY base case is a big decline in the primary half of 2026, with BTC falling to $60,000-$65,000, ETH falling to $1,800-$2,000 and SOL falling to $50-$75. These levels would offer attractive opportunities through the top of the 12 months.”
The same note noted that the market could hit a “everlasting low” in the primary or third quarter before rising toward year-end, which might lead to a shallower bear market than in previous cycles.
The pessimistic forecast got here as a surprise to investors considering Lee can also be chairman of Bitmine, the most important corporate Ether holder with around $12.3 billion in ETH holdings.
Source: AlejandroBTC
Meanwhile, the industry's most successful traders by way of returns, tracked as “smart money” traders on Nansen's blockchain intelligence platform, continued to bet on Ether's short-term price decline.
Smart money traders lead perpetual futures positions on hyperliquid. Source: Nansen
According to Nansen data, smart money recorded a net short position in Ether totaling $117 million, but added $15 million value of long positions within the last 24 hours, indicating a slight rebound in risk appetite from this key cohort.
