Ethereum Rebound Fails to Bring Profit-Takers Back In

Ethereum's recent price rebound has seen a surprising trend - despite the gains, holders are moving their coins off exchanges. According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Ethereum (ETH) held on exchanges fell by about 18% to 6.28 million coins from 7.69 million in early June.

About 1.4 million ETH left exchanges over this period and was analyzed as being moved to self-custody wallets and staking protocols. This trend is unusual, as during price rises, supply for profit-taking typically flows into exchanges. Santiment noted that Ethereum holders are moving assets off exchanges despite price gains and described the move as running completely counter to established market logic.

Even after Ethereum prices began to rise in earnest on August 16, outflows continued. ETH climbed about 27% to a high of $2,528 at one point, but there was no inflow to exchanges for large-scale profit-taking. Since August 19 alone, another 275,000 ETH has left exchanges.

Bitcoin showed the opposite trend, with held on exchange rising by 0.25% and staying at a high level. This suggests investors are managing Bitcoin and Ethereum in different ways, with Ethereum investors often moving their coins to staking protocols to earn returns within the network. The share of staked ETH in total supply has exceeded 35%, indicating large holders are choosing network returns instead of leaving assets idle in exchange accounts.

Technically, overhead resistance remains, and according to TradingView's ETH/USD chart, this rebound is playing out within a long-running range. The $2,497 to $2,585 area, where long-term moving averages sit, is acting as strong resistance, and analysis says ETH needs to settle above $2,600 to fully break out of the bearish trend.