Heightened volatility in the market continues to keep the price of Ethereum below the $2,000 mark, capping every attempt towards the upside. During the persistent downward price action, a divergence has emerged among ETH investors, with large holders selling while smaller holders are buying.
Ethereum Whale Selling Meets Retail Accumulation In Market Split
Ethereum’s ongoing waning price action is taking its toll on investors, as evidenced by their current activity and sentiment. Following the downward trend, a notable divergence in investors’ behavior is developing, causing large and small holders to move in separate directions.
Looking at the report from Santiment, a leading market intelligence and on-chain data analytics platform, large investors are pushing toward the sell side, while small investors are leaning towards the buy side. Even as retail and grassroots investors enter the market to purchase, this divergence raises the possibility that major holders often regarded as whales or institutional-grade participants may be locking in profits or repositioning.
The current selling activity is observed among wallet addresses holding at least 1,000 ETH, which in this case are considered high-tier holders. Meanwhile, buying activity is taking place among wallet addresses holding less than 1 ETH, flagged as low-tier investors.
Before now, these high-tier holders were collectively holding more than 75% of Ethereum’s total supply. However, after the dumping of about 1.5% of the supply since Christmas, their holdings are now below the level. Such redistribution phases have the potential to alter the market structure by shifting supply from concentrated hands to a wider base.
According to data from Santiment, mid-tier investors (those holding between 1 and 1,000 ETH) have also been steadily buying the altcoin. This persistent buying has pushed their collective holdings back to over 23% of the total supply for the first time since July 2025.
For smaller holders and low-tier investors, ETH accumulation has been rising, bringing their collective stash to 2.3% of the overall supply, marking the highest level ever. Santiment highlighted that these wallet addresses are likely growing due to ETH staking.
Staking ETH Now Takes More Time
As Ethereum staking grows, the process is now taking more time than ever. Milk Road shared on X that investors are expected to wait for 71 days and 11 hours to stake ETH. Recently, Ethereum staking reached 30% of the total supply, locking up 36.8 million ETH valued at a whopping $72 billion.
Furthermore, Ethereum validators have reached 1 million, who are securing the network. This is a massive supply restriction as one-third of all ETH is now illiquid, gaining a modest 2.83% APR, and by crypto standards, this is not an attractive yield.
The 4.1 million ETH queue suggests that demand to stake is at an all-time high while the altcoin’s price sits below $2,000. Meanwhile, the exit queue is essentially nonexistent by comparison, with just 75,872 ETH leaving. Such a trend is an indication of conviction, not yield farming behavior. When people lock up $74B during a price dip, it means they are settling in, instead of speculating. “Watch that queue, it’s a sentiment indicator,” Milk Road added.
