After dipping below $1,800 earlier in the month, the price of Ethereum has since reclaimed the $2,000 level, which is considered a psychological support zone for many traders. Over the past week, though, the price showed mild downward pressure, struggling to hold sustainably above the $2,000 level<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In a post on the X platform, crypto analyst Joao Wedson stated<\/a> that there has been a major shift in the behavior of Ethereum\u2019s large holders. The market pundit also pointed out that something deeper may be happening under the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc33Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.<\/p>\n Addresses holding between 100K and 1 million ETH have drastically reduced their reserves over the past 90 days. That is a significant and curious shift.<\/p>\n What stands out even more is that a large portion of this reduction is not\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/UBlikDUQf3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Wedson asserted that wallet addresses holding between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH have significantly reduced their holdings over the past 90 days, showing that big holders are selling or moving large amounts of ETH.\u00a0<\/span>What\u2019s more interesting is that this shave-off is happening from non-exchange whale wallets.<\/span><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc33Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.<\/p>\n Addresses holding between 100K and 1 million ETH have drastically reduced their reserves over the past 90 days. That is a significant and curious shift.<\/p>\n What stands out even more is that a large portion of this reduction is not\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/UBlikDUQf3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In other words, major private ETH holders, institutions, or early investors may be actively decreasing their exposure, and this could indicate profit-taking, risk-off positioning, or preparation for volatility.\u00a0<\/span>All in all, Wedson noted that when this group of whales begins to unwind positions, it often means that a structural shift is occurring beneath the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n As of this writing, the price of Ethereum stands at around $2,010, showing an almost 5% jump in the past 24 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n According to a recent on-chain observation, this strategic move by ETH large holders could be connected to the worsening macroeconomic conditions. Pseudonymous analyst Darkfost, in a Quicktake post<\/a> on the CryptoQuant platform, revealed that the global economic backdrop is slowly losing momentum, and Ethereum seems to be the most impacted altcoin so far.<\/span><\/p>\n Starting with the risk-off global climate, Darkfost referenced the core Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level. The Core PPI MoM at +0.8% confirmed persistence of inflation, suggesting that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates soon, which is unfavorable for risk assets. <\/span><\/p>\n On top of that, the rising tension between the United States and Iran increases geopolitical uncertainty. On Saturday, the US and Israel announced military actions against Iran<\/a>, which sent crypto prices tumbling on the weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n However, Ethereum\u2019s Open Interest (OI) on all exchanges dropped from 7.79 million ETH to 5.8 million ETH, with about 2 million of that figure concentrated on Binance.\u00a0 This exposes that traders are closing positions and leverage is being reduced, with exposure to ETH also shrinking.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, the Notional OI, which measures the total dollar value of open contracts, experienced a sharper drop as positions were closed. For instance, Binance\u2019s Open Interest dropped from over $12.6 billion to $4.1 billion, while Bybit\u2019s cut by two-thirds to $1.9 billion. This shows broad deleveraging across the entire market and not just one platform.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, the Ethereum derivatives market is shrinking, as traders are unwinding leverage in response to macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures. Moreover, the current market condition hasn\u2019t been particularly encouraging for investor risk appetite \u2014 as seen with the ETH whales.<\/span><\/p>\n Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhale Activity Signals Potential Volatility Surge In Ethereum Markets<\/b><\/h2>\n
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