After dipping below $1,800 at the beginning of the month, the price of Ethereum has since returned to the level of $2,000, which is considered a psychological support point for many traders. In the past week, however, the price has shown downward pressure, struggling to hold continuously above the $2,000 level.
Whale Work Signals A Potentially Volatile Operation in the Ethereum Markets
In an X forum post, crypto analyst Joao Wedson said there has been a big change in the behavior of major Ethereum owners. The market expert also revealed that there might be something deeper going on underground.
🐳Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.
Addresses holding between 100K and 1 million ETH have significantly reduced their reserves over the past 90 days. That is a significant and dramatic change.
What is most striking is that most of this reduction is not… pic.twitter.com/UBlikDUQf3
– Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026
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Wedson confirmed that wallet addresses holding between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH have significantly reduced their holdings in the past 90 days, indicating that large holders are selling or transferring large amounts of ETH. The most interesting thing is that this shaving takes place in the whale’s pouches that do not exchange.
🐳Whales continue to distribute and sell Ethereum.
Addresses holding between 100K and 1 million ETH have significantly reduced their reserves over the past 90 days. That is a significant and dramatic change.
What is most striking is that most of this reduction is not… pic.twitter.com/UBlikDUQf3
– Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) February 27, 2026
In other words, large private ETH holders, institutions, or early investors may further reduce their exposure, and this may indicate profit-taking, risk-taking, or preparation for volatility. Overall, Wedson noted that when a pod of whales begins to reverse its position, it usually means there is a structural change underneath.
As of this writing, the price of Ethereum is around $2,010, representing a jump of nearly 5% in the last 24 hours.
Slumping Global Backdrop Affects ETH Hardly
According to the latest on-chain opinion, this strategic move by major ETH holders can be linked to worsening macroeconomic conditions. Anonymous analyst Darkfost, in a Quicktake post on the CryptoQuant platform, revealed that the global economic base is slowly losing ground, and Ethereum seems to be the most affected altcoin so far.
Starting with the benign global climate, Darkfost referred to the core Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level. Core PPI MoM at +0.8% confirmed the persistence of inflation, suggesting that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates anytime soon, which is unfavorable for risk assets.
In addition, growing tensions between the United States and Iran are increasing political uncertainty. On Saturday, the US and Israel announced military actions against Iran, sending crypto prices down over the weekend.
However, Ethereum’s Open Interest (OI) across all exchanges dropped from 7.79 million ETH to 5.8 million ETH, with nearly 2 million of that figure concentrated in Binance. This means that as traders close positions and leverage is reduced, exposure to ETH is also reduced.
Additionally, Notional OI, which measures the dollar value of open contracts, fell sharply as positions were closed. For example, Binance’s Open Interest fell from more than $12.6 billion to $4.1 billion, while Bybit was cut by two-thirds to $1.9 billion. This shows a broad distribution across the market and not just one platform.
Overall, the Ethereum derivatives market is slowing down, as traders relax in response to macroeconomic and geopolitical pressures. In addition, the current market situation has not particularly encouraged the desire to take risks for investors – as seen with the ETH whales.
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Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView
