Ethereum lost the $2,300 mark this week as bearish pressure persisted, and data shows the biggest holders have been quietly trimming their positions for months. Whales holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH reduced their combined stash from 15.95 million coins in early October 2025 to about 12.52 million by May 2026 — a 21.5% decline. The sell-off erased the accumulation those same whales had built up since last spring.
What the whale data shows
Before the selling wave, those midsize whales were stacking ETH. Their holdings climbed from roughly 12.95 million ETH in April 2025 to the October peak of 15.95 million. Then the trend flipped. Market analyst Ali Charts described the sustained distribution as a 'supply overhang' and said pushing ETH back to $3,000 would likely require fresh demand from institutional or retail buyers, not just a pause in selling.
The timing isn't great for Ethereum bulls. The coin has been struggling to break key short-term resistance even as the broader ecosystem notches real adoption milestones.
A $322 million buying spree
But the picture isn't uniformly bleak. Just a few days before the latest price drop, the same whale cohort snapped up over 140,000 ETH — worth roughly $322 million at current prices. That's the kind of volume that can shift momentum, at least temporarily. Whether it marks the start of a new accumulation phase or just a tactical dip-buy remains the open question.
Institutional adoption keeps ticking up
While the price action frustrates, the infrastructure around Ethereum keeps growing. Tokenized U.S. Treasury products on the network crossed $8 billion for the first time, a sign that traditional finance is still plugging into Ethereum's rails. Stripe's BRIDGE stablecoin platform expanded to the Celo network this month, widening Ethereum's stablecoin reach. And plans were announced for Canada's first regulated stablecoin, also built on Ethereum.
None of that has been enough to shake the price above the $2,300 resistance. The whale data suggests the market needs a bigger catalyst — or a bigger buyer — to break out.
