Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
Nearly $1.61 billion worth of Ethereum tokens has left crypto exchanges year-to-date, ahead of its protocolâs potential full merge to proof-of-stake in summer.
The amount of Ethereumâs native token Ether (ETH) kept with crypto exchanges has fallen to its lowest levels since September 2018, signaling tradersâ intention to hold the tokens in hopes of a price rally in 2022.
Notably, nearly 550,000 ETH â worth around $1.61 billion â have left centralized trading platforms year-to-date, according to data provided by Glassnode. The massive outflow has reduced the exchangesâ net-Ether balance to 21.72 million ETH, down from its record high of 31.68 million ETH in June 2020.
Ethereum balance on all exchanges as of March 18, 2022. Source: Glassnode
Biggest weekly ETH outflow since October 2021
Interestingly, over 30% of all Etherâs withdrawals from exchanges witnessed in 2022 appeared earlier this week, data from IntoTheBlock shows. In detail, over 180,000 ETH left crypto trading platforms on March 15, bringing the weekly outflowâs worth to a little over $500 million as of March 18.
Ethereum net exchange flows. Source: IntoTheBlock
Chainalysis data showed similar readings, revealing that Ether tokens could have left exchanges this week at an average of about 120,000 units per day, a bullish signal. Excerpts:
âAssets held on exchanges increase if more market participants want to sell than to buy and if buyers choose to store their assets on exchanges.â
IntoTheBlock provided a similar upside outlook while citing a fractal from October 2021 that saw the Etherâs price rising by 15% ten days after the Ethereum network detected massive ETH withdrawals from centralized crypto exchanges.
Ethereum supply crunch underway
The increase in Ether withdrawals from exchanges this week coincided with about 190,000 ETH moving into Lidoâs âstETH liquid stakinâ pools, IntoTheBlock noted.
To recap, Lido is a noncustodial staking service that enables users to overcome challenges associated with staking on the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain, including the requirement of staking a minimum of 32 ETH or its multiples. Furthermore, Lido proposes to solve the capital efficiency problem by issuing stETH, the tokenized version of staked ETH.
The last 30 days showed Ether holders adding over 1 million ETH into the Ethereum 2.0 contract. And, as the protocol prepares to switch completely to proof-of-stake (PoS) in summer â in the wake of its  âMergeâ earlier this week on the Kiln testnet â the probability of more Ether tokens going out of active supply has increased.
Lol. No one told anon that there's going to be a liquidity squeeze in newly minted Ether in a few months. No newly minted Ether will enter circulation between the Merge (Juneish) and Shanghai (Decemberish). I'd text them but I don't even have their number. You got it? Poor anon.
â superphiz.eth (@superphiz) March 16, 2022
ETH price rebound continues
The bullishness surrounding Ethereumâs switch to proof-of-stake has prompted Ether to enter a rebound mode this week.Â
Related:Â Vitalik Buterin talks cryptoâs perils in Time Magazine interview
In detail, ETHâs price rallied by more than 17% week-to-date to nearly $3,000. Interestingly, the upside retracement originated at a technical level, rising trendline support with a recent history of limiting Etherâs bearish outlooks, as shown in the chart below.
ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
Nonetheless, as Cointelegraph previously reported, Ether could pare its gains owing to another technical level, this time a falling trendline resistance that has also been instrumental in capping its upside attempts since January 2022.
Together, these trendlines appear to have formed a continuation pattern called a symmetrical triangle, indicating that Ether will most likely go in the direction of its previous trend, i.e., down. For now, ETH could fall back toward the triangleâs support trendline on a pullback from its resistance one. Â
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.