Ether (ETH) balances held on exchanges fell to multi-year lows, with more than 31 million ETH leaving centralized exchanges in February, the largest monthly outflow since November.
While the price of ETH remained close to $2,000, the resulting data shows a split between small buyers and larger sellers, raising the question of how the price might respond if demand in retail wallets and wallets equalizes.
Sources of ether exchange signal compression supply
Crypto analyst Arab Chain said more than 31.6 million ETH left major exchanges in February, the highest monthly flow since November. Binance was withdrawn with about 14.45 million ETH, about half of the total amount. OKX followed with around 3.83 million ETH and Kraken recorded close to 1.04 million ETH.
Fixed withdrawals reduce the pool of coins for spot trading activity. Coins moving to private wallets or staking platforms tend to be less liquid in the short term. As a result, a leaner balance of exchange can increase price volatility when market activity increases.
Similarly, CryptoQuant data also showed that Binance’s Ether reserves fell to around 3.46 million ETH, the lowest level since 2020. In previous periods, the reserves were above 5 million ETH before entering a gradual trend marked by lower highs. The latest reading expands this decline.
With ETH trading below $2,000, the drop in supply positions on the exchange added focus on future demand. If buying pressure increases while inventories decrease, available liquidity in the order books could tighten further around $2,000.
Related: Ether price rejected again at $2K: How low can ETH go in March?
The market is still divided between retail and wholesale
Hyblock data noted the difference in trading volume. Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD), which tracks aggressive net trading, is close to $95 million for smaller trades ($0 to $10,000). This indicates a steady pressure on retail purchases.
In contrast, the $10,000-100,000 trade bracket records approximately $162 million in CVD, while the $100,000+ category is close to -$357 million. As can be seen, larger participants tended to net sell during this period.
The bid-ask ratio turned slightly positive and rose to 0.2 to 0.03, indicating that buying interest is much stronger in recent sessions. The move follows a series of negative readings and points to a short-term stabilization rather than broad confidence.
Total open interest is about $9.41 billion, down from levels near $10 billion at the end of February. The decline indicates that leverage has decreased as the price consolidates between $1,900 and $2,000.
If retail accumulation persists and large-scale sales slow, upside positioning may become more consistent. In this case, the bearish offer of the exchange could increase the price movement when ETH consolidates the position above $2,000-2,150.
Related: AI’s ‘Vibe Coding’ May Premature Ethereum’s Roadmap: Vitalik Buterin
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