Ethereum Exchange Reserves Hit Record Low as ETF Inflows Surge
Ethereum’s price hovered around $2,570 early Monday after a weekend of mixed signals. The cryptocurrency briefly pushed past $2,600 before pulling back, but there’s something more interesting happening under the surface. Exchange reserves—the amount of ETH sitting on trading platforms—just dropped to their lowest level ever: 18.57 million ETH. That’s down from 18.72 million just a day earlier. When reserves shrink like this, it usually means people are moving coins off exchanges, either to hold or stake them. Less supply on the market often leads to higher prices, at least in theory.
Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs had their best week since December, pulling in $583 million globally. U.S. spot ETFs accounted for most of that, with $528 million in fresh money. The streak almost hit 20 straight days of inflows before a tiny $2.18 million outflow on Friday, likely tied to geopolitical tensions. Still, the overall trend looks strong.
Why the Sudden Shift?
It’s not just ETFs driving the move. Staking activity jumped by 80,000 ETH recently, according to Beaconcha.in data. People seem more willing to lock up their coins, maybe betting on future gains or just preferring staking rewards over short-term trading. Tracy Jin, COO of MEXC, pointed to Ethereum’s role as “digital oil” for decentralized finance and stablecoins—nearly half of all stablecoins live on Ethereum’s network. She also mentioned upcoming upgrades like Pectra and clearer rules around staking as reasons for cautious optimism.
But Jin isn’t getting carried away. She thinks ETH could end the year between $2,800 and $3,600, “maybe higher if ETF staking and network upgrades pick up speed.” That’s a decent range, though not exactly explosive growth.
Price Action and What’s Next
ETH held above $2,500 over the weekend but got rejected at the 200-day moving average—a key technical level traders watch. If it breaks through, $2,850 becomes the next big test. Fail there, and we might see a double-top pattern, which usually means a pullback. On the flip side, losing $2,500 could send ETH down toward $2,260 or even $2,110, though the 50-day moving average might soften the fall.
Futures markets saw $134 million in liquidations recently, split almost evenly between longs and shorts. That kind of volatility isn’t unusual, but it shows how jumpy traders are right now. Indicators like the RSI and Stochastic Oscillator are hovering near neutral, so the next move isn’t entirely clear.
All in all, Ethereum’s fundamentals seem stronger than they’ve been in months, but the price isn’t quite keeping up. Maybe it just needs a little more time. Or maybe traders are waiting for the next big catalyst. Either way, the next few weeks should be interesting.
