Ethereum Defies $800M Whale Selling Pressure, Poised for Major Breakout Above $2,300

Ethereum (ETH) has absorbed a staggering $800 million in selling pressure over the past week, including significant disposals from high-profile whale wallets, yet its market sentiment and price have strengthened. The second-largest cryptocurrency now consolidates just below the critical $2,300 resistance level, setting the stage for a potential breakout toward $2,400 and beyond, demonstrating remarkable resilience amid substantial sell-side volume.

The Ethereum fear and greed index switched to 67 points, signifying greed for the first time since January. ETH open interest also increased to levels not seen since early 2026, breaking above $14B for the first time in months. 

Following the recent general market recovery, ETH showed that the pessimism was unwarranted, and the token quickly returned to higher demand. 

ETH whales are repositioning for a better average price

The recent whale selling does not necessarily mean an abandonment of ETH. During past bull cycles, whales rebalanced their portfolios to achieve a lower average price. ETH whales are showing they may be here to stay, using the token as a source of staking passive income. 

As a sign of long-term interest, the Ethereum validator queue still has over 3M ETH waiting, with an average waiting time of 52 days to start as a validator node. There are also no signs of whales exiting the Beacon chain contract. Over 31% of ETH is staked, for a total of 37.7M. 

As the Ethereum ecosystem matured, panic-selling is now rarer, as well as large cascading liquidations. Some ETH-based loans were liquidated or caused forced selling, but overall, ETH retains significant long-term confidence. 

Long-term ETH holders may be facing some price pressure, as only 38% of the supply is held with unrealized gains. However, the recent market conditions show Ethereum can absorb the selling, and some whales intend to hold. 

The amount of ETH held in strategic reserves is up to 7.27M ETH, breaking above 6% of the supply. Bitmine continued to buy more ETH in the past month, holding 4.5M tokens and now up to 75% of its target treasury. 

ETH rally boosts DeFi activity

ETH at a higher price range remains beneficial for DeFi activity. Currently, a big liquidation cluster stands around $1,891 per ETH, mostly affecting Compound loans. 

With the current breakout above $2,300, there is no danger of a dip to a lower range. Value held in the Ethereum ecosystem expanded to $59B from recent local lows, while DeFi in general locked in $99B. 

ETH remains the backbone of DeFi lending, while posting over 2M daily transactions, near an all-time peak. The long-term prospects of the network also led to record-low exchange reserves of just 15M ETH. Whales are also moving in to buy ETH at lower prices and withdraw from exchanges.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.