In the next nine hours, over $350 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) is set to be withdrawn, potentially affecting the price of ETH. This event could lead to increased selling pressure, especially around 20:00 UTC when 145,380 ETH, valued at approximately $353 million, will be unlocked. Although this withdrawal doesn't guarantee an immediate sale, it could result in significant market liquidity for the second-largest
cryptocurrency, according to data from Token Unlocks.Despite the potential impact, Bitfinex analysts note that such large-scale withdrawals have become routine since the Ethereum Merge and Shanghai updates. They believe that this amount is unlikely to cause a market crash or a 10% drop in ETH's value, given Ethereum's $300 billion market cap and a daily trading volume of $24 billion on centralized exchanges.Ether's price has been on a downward trend for three consecutive weeks, reaching a five-month low below $2,200 this week, following a $510 billion sell-off in the broader cryptocurrency market. Losing this psychological support level could trigger further panic selling.Ethereum validators are expected to cash in their tokens and staking rewards, potentially adding to the selling pressure. Currently, there are 360,000 ETH awaiting withdrawal from over 10,000 validators, representing an additional $877 million in potential sales.The recent decline in ETH's price can be attributed to both macroeconomic factors and specific industry events, such as aggressive selling by Jump Trading. According to a report by QCP Group, Jump Trading and Paradigm VC have been selling ETH aggressively, leading to a chain reaction among market makers who scrambled to cover their positions.
In total, five major market makers sold 130,000 ETH, worth over $290 million, contributing to ETH's drop from $3,000 to under $2,200.Some analysts believe that ETH may have reached a local low. Analyst Crypto Bullet compared the 2017-2021 Ethereum cycles with the current 2021-2024 cycles.