Ethereum Whales Buy Dip as Reserves Drop 475K, Spot ETFs Bleed $870M

Ethereum News

One of Ethereum's earliest investors executed a textbook sell-high, buy-low rotation around last week's crash. The wallet offloaded 60,000 ETH near $2,040, alongside 600 Wrapped Bitcoin around $78,538 and a batch of wrapped staked ETH, before the market broke down. After the altcoin slid below $1,600 on Friday, the same addresses repurchased 60,088 ETH and 10,000 wstETH at roughly $1,606, plus 611 WBTC near $63,280. ETH had fallen more than 16.8% over seven days as Middle East tensions and a cautious Federal Reserve pressured risk assets, before recovering over 3% on Monday to trade around $1,664.

A separate wallet tied to mining figure Chun Wang pulled 17,560 ETH worth about $28.67 million off Binance during the dip, joining a cluster of large buyers stepping in near the lows. On-chain cohort data shows the accumulation was uneven. Addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million ETH lifted their combined balance to roughly 6.89 million ETH, adding about 290,000 ETH in the first week of June. Mid-sized holders moved the opposite way, with wallets controlling 10,000 to 100,000 ETH trimming their stack to around 26.87 million ETH and extending an ongoing distribution trend across that tier.

Balances held on centralized trading venues continued to thin out as the week progressed. Tracked Ethereum reserves across major platforms including Binance, OKX, Gemini and Bitfinex dropped by roughly 475,000 ETH in early June, with Binance alone shedding close to 190,000 ETH between June 4 and June 7. A coordinated reserve decline across several large exchange platforms can signal tighter available liquidity, especially if outflows persist while spot demand recovers. The pattern often reflects holders shifting coins into self-custody or cold wallet storage rather than positioning to sell.

Institutional appetite told a far less constructive story. Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds recorded a fourth consecutive week of redemptions, with net withdrawals surpassing $870 million. Over that stretch the products endured a 17-day outflow streak broken by just a single day of inflows, when investors added $19.3 million. The persistent bleed undercuts one of the core bull market arguments for Ethereum's institutional adoption, namely that regulated wrappers would deepen liquidity and broaden access. Instead, the vehicles built to attract traditional capital have become a steady source of selling pressure as price grinds toward multi-year lows.

The scale of the retreat is stark. Total assets held in spot Ethereum funds have fallen more than 70% from their roughly $30 billion peak to about $8.71 billion, equivalent to just over 4% of Ethereum's circulating market value. The drawdown reflects both falling prices and sustained outflows, eroding the institutional bid that had been central to the asset's investment narrative. Ethereum's slide to as low as $1,506 marked its weakest level since April 2025, deepening a broad selloff that has drained leverage from derivatives markets and pushed traders into defensive positioning across the board.

Supply hitting trading platforms surged even as longer-term holders withdrew. On-chain data shows Ethereum inflows to exchanges spiked to roughly 2.24 million ETH in a single day, the highest reading in four months, with Binance absorbing more than 1.16 million ETH of that total. The contrast between aggressive whale accumulation and a flood of fresh deposits points to a sharply divided market. Options desks have meanwhile repriced risk around the $1,500 strike, reflecting elevated fears of a deeper breakdown. That level now stands as a psychological battleground between dip buyers and sellers de-risking into weakness.

ETH last traded near $1,665.46, up almost 3% on the day but still locked in a downtrend. The relative strength index sits at 26.93, deep in oversold territory and hinting at exhaustion, though the MACD signal remains bearish. Immediate support rests at $1,615, with deeper cushions at $1,505 and $1,244 if selling resumes. To the upside, reclaiming $1,710 would open the door toward $1,771 and $1,872. A daily close back above $1,710 on rising volume would strengthen the bullish case, while a decisive break below $1,505 would invalidate any near-term recovery thesis.