After falling below $1,800 at the beginning of the month, Ethereum’s price has returned to the $2,000 level, which is considered a psychological support zone for many traders. However, the price has shown soft downward pressure over the past week, struggling to stay above the $2,000 level.
Whale activity signals a potential boost in volatility in Ethereum markets
In a post on Platform X, cryptocurrency analyst Joao Wedson he stated that there has been a fundamental change in the behavior of immense Ethereum holders. The market expert also pointed out that something deeper may be going on beneath the surface.
🐳Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.
Addresses with 100,000 or more up to 1 million ETH have drastically reduced their reserves over the last 90 days. This is a significant and compelling change.
Even more striking is the fact that much of this reduction is not… pic.twitter.com/UBlikDUQf3
— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026
Wedson asserted that wallet addresses holding between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH have significantly reduced their holdings over the last 90 days, showing that immense holders are selling or moving immense amounts of ETH. What’s more compelling is that this cutoff occurs for non-fungible whale wallets.
🐳Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.
Addresses with 100,000 or more up to 1 million ETH have drastically reduced their reserves over the last 90 days. This is a significant and compelling change.
Even more striking is the fact that much of this reduction is not… pic.twitter.com/UBlikDUQf3
— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026
In other words, major private ETH holders, institutions, or early investors may be actively reducing their exposure, which could indicate profit-taking, risk-free positioning, or preparation for volatility. In summary, Wedson noted that when this group of whales begins to change positions, it often means that a structural change is occurring beneath the surface.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at around $2,010, up almost 5% in the last 24 hours.
The decline in the global background has the greatest impact on ETH
According to a recent on-chain observation, this strategic move by immense ETH holders may be linked to deteriorating macroeconomic conditions. Pseudonymous Darkfost analyst, v Quick post on the CryptoQuant platform revealed that the global economic situation is slowly losing momentum, and Ethereum appears to be the most affected altcoin so far.
Starting with a risk-free global climate, Darkfost referred to the Core Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level. Core monthly PPI at +0.8% confirmed the persistence of inflation, suggesting that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates any time soon, which is unfavorable for risky assets.
Moreover, rising tensions between the United States and Iran boost geopolitical uncertainty. On Saturday, the United States and Israel announced military action against Iran, sending cryptocurrency prices tumbling over the weekend.
However, Ethereum’s Open Interest (OI) across all exchanges dropped from 7.79 million ETH to 5.8 million ETH, of which around 2 million was focused on Binance. This reveals that as traders close out their positions, leverage decreases and exposure to ETH also decreases.
Additionally, Nominal OI, which measures the total dollar value of open contracts, saw a sharper decline as positions were closed. For example, Binance’s Open Interest dropped from over $12.6 billion to $4.1 billion, while Bybit fell by two-thirds to $1.9 billion. This shows widespread deleveraging across the entire market, not just on one platform.
Overall, the Ethereum derivatives market is shrinking as investors reduce leverage in response to macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures. Moreover, the current market situation has not been particularly encouraging for investor risk appetite – as seen in the case of ETH whales.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
