Whales Quietly Stack ETH While Retail Traders Exit Fast

• Long-term holders continue to accumulate ETH despite unrealized losses, showing strong conviction in its long-term value.
• Exchange inflow rises while funding stays neutral, signaling short-term uncertainty across retail and leveraged traders.

Ethereum is currently at a crossroads. On the one hand, large whales seem to be continuing to increase their ETH holdings. On the other hand, retail investors are choosing to dump their assets, perhaps due to market fatigue or simply wanting to ‘play it safe.’ Signals from on-chain data also show this tension very clearly.

Let’s start with activity on Binance. Data from CryptoQuant shows that the average ETH inflow to the exchange has been increasing since the end of 2024. This means that more investors are sending their ETH to Binance, which is generally a sign of an impending sell-off. This pattern is not new—it also happened in 2022 and 2023, and the results were not so encouraging.

Source: CryptoQuant

However, interestingly, the outflow has also increased. And this is not just a small outflow, but a large amount leaving the exchange. For example, on May 8, more than 85,000 ETH were withdrawn from Binance. What does that mean? There is a high probability that whales are accumulating behind the scenes.

ETH Traders Unsure as Funding Hits Flatline

Furthermore, Ethereum’s funding rate is currently at a neutral level. When ETH briefly broke through $4,000, the funding rate briefly spiked to an excessively positive number, indicating that the market was filled with long positions.

That was a temporary peak, because shortly after, the price plunged to around $1,400. Now, with funding neutral and no major short pressure, the market seems confused: should it continue to rise or correct first?

Whales Accumulate Quietly as Network Activity Picks Up

Perhaps the most interesting thing is the quiet movement of long-term holders. According to a report from CNF, long-term Ethereum holders actually increased their holdings by more than 22%, even though some of them are in unrealized losses.

This shows a fairly high level of confidence. Just imagine if you have an asset that is decreasing in value, but you keep adding because you believe the price will increase in the future — that’s what they do.

Recently, Ethereum’s Total Value Locked (TVL) also increased 41% in just 30 days, now reaching $52.8 billion. Daily transaction activity also increased by 22%, reaching 1.34 million. This indicates that the Ethereum ecosystem is starting to stir again, and users are becoming active again. However, that doesn’t mean everything is going smoothly.

The ETH/BTC ratio is currently touching 0.019 — the lowest position in years. This could be a signal that ETH is undervalued compared to Bitcoin. But unfortunately, stagnant network activity and weak institutional interest could be stumbling blocks in the near future.

As of the writing time, ETH managed to jump more than 20% in the last 24 hours, breaking through $2,300. This increase did not just happen. There was support from major movements such as the withdrawal of 61,401 ETH — worth around $116 million — by Abraxas Capital from the exchange.

This is not a small number, and could be part of a long-term accumulation strategy. Trading volume also increased by 35% to $18.5 billion. Figures like these indicate that the market still has an appetite for ETH, even though it is not yet clear where it is headed.