The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), traded lower on Friday, falling below the $1,200 level, before bouncing back above the key level early Sunday.

According to Santiment, Ethereum whales are accumulating the cryptocurrency at the highest rate since 2020.

🐳🦈 #Ethereum's active shark & whale addresses continue accumulating with prices less than a quarter of their #AllTimeHigh levels a year ago. In Oct/Nov 2020, these 100 to 100k $ETH addresses assisted in pushing $ETH to a +50% price rise over 5 weeks. https://t.co/v8gh4RfV7z pic.twitter.com/Oe3lTo12uj

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) November 23, 2022

Santiment said the last accumulation at this scale happened in 2020. At that time, it sparked an ETH rally which saw the price rise by 50%. 

Last week, ETH whales moved a massive $1.03 billion worth of Ethereum in just one day. 

🐳 #Ethereum's large whales (holding $10.9M to $1.09B) have added 947,940 more $ETH yesterday worth ~$1.03B. This is the 5th largest single day add in the past year. The past 4 instances, $ETH's price vs. $BTC rose an average of +3.2% the following 3 days. https://t.co/g4RdgE0Gzj pic.twitter.com/TVYkj4xVrU

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) November 21, 2022

Also Read: This Crypto Analyst Says Ethereum Pullback Is About To End, Here's Why

According to Santiment, last week's accumulation was the fifth-largest single-day add by the largest group of whales in the past year. 

Earlier in September, the Ethereum blockchain completed The Merge to Proof-of-Stake. The ETH Foundation estimates that the shift will bring about a 99.95% reduction in energy consumption.

Price Check: On Sunday, Ethereum was trading at $1,216.39, 0.43% higher in 24 hours, and up 3.35% in the past seven days.