Ethereum staking demand falls 50% as liquidity threatens recovery

Ethereum’s price has been largely flat, down more than 5% over the past week, though a modest rebound of about 4.5% since February 19 followed a bullish divergence on the daily chart that suggested sellers were losing strength. That divergence helped ETH recover from the February 6 low near $1,740 and push back toward roughly $1,970.

Staking activity, however, is moving the other way. Six-month cumulative net staking deposits fell from 1,994,282 ETH on January 13 to 1,008,012 ETH on February 22, a drop of about 986,000 ETH — nearly 50% — meaning far less ETH is being locked away and more could remain liquid and available to sell.

Evidence of that returning liquidity shows up on exchanges and in whale behavior. Exchange balances rose from 14,241,203 ETH to 14,586,720 ETH, an increase of about 345,500 ETH, while whale holdings fell from 113.65 million ETH to 113.42 million ETH, implying roughly 230,000 ETH sold since February 19.

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