Tom Lee's BitMine stock has struggled to recover despite its deep connection to Ethereum. The BitMine stock price has traded mostly flat in recent days and remains sharply down, 30% over the past month, closely mirroring Ethereum’s own decline. This weakness comes even as the company continued increasing its Ethereum exposure during 2026.
Normally, such aggressive accumulation would support price strength. But the BMNR stock price is still showing signs of structural weakness. This raises an uncomfortable question. Why is the stock not responding positively to its growing Ethereum position?
BitMine’s Ethereum Buying Continues, But Two Metrics Show Institutions Still Hesitant
BitMine significantly increased its Ethereum holdings in 2026, adding 279,158 ETH to its treasury as of February 22. The latest addition occurred between February 17 and February 22, when over 51,000 ETH were added.
This steady accumulation confirms the company’s long-term conviction in Ethereum. Yet the stock’s technical structure tells a different story.
BitMine remains stuck inside a bear flag pattern, which forms when a temporary rebound happens within a broader downtrend. These patterns often resolve with another leg lower if strong buying does not return. For now, the projected risk sits at near 60%, the pole's height.
At the same time, the BitMine stock continues trading below its monthly Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP), currently near $20.38.
VWAP represents the average price weighted by volume and is widely used as a proxy for institutional positioning. Trading below VWAP suggests institutions are still holding defensive positions and have not fully returned as buyers.
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This hesitation also appears in the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) indicator. CMF measures whether large investors are buying or selling by combining price and volume data.
While CMF has been rising against the downtrend since late November, indicating that selling pressure is slowing, it remains below zero. This means institutional selling has eased, but strong buying has not yet begun.
Together, VWAP and CMF show that despite BitMine’s aggressive Ethereum accumulation, institutional investors remain cautious.
The historical significance of breaking above the VWAP line is obvious: when it happened earlier in December, the BitMine stock price surged by almost 39% to a local peak.