The balance of Ether (ETH) held on exchanges fell to its lowest level in many years, with over 31 million ETH leaving centralized exchanges in February, marking the largest monthly withdrawal since November.

While the price of ETH has remained near $2,000, derivatives data shows a split between tiny buyers and larger sellers, raising the question of how the price might react if demand becomes uniform across both retail and whale wallets.

Ether exchange reserves signal supply tightness

Arab Chain cryptocurrency analyst he said that over 31.6 million ETH left major exchanges in February, the highest monthly outflow since November. Binance led the way with approximately 14.45 million ETH paid out, which is almost half of the total. Next came OKX with approximately 3.83 million ETH, while Kraken recorded nearly 1.04 million ETH.

Continuous withdrawals reduce the pool of coins readily available for spot transactions. Coins moved to private wallets or staking platforms are typically less liquid in the compact term. As a result, smaller foreign exchange balances may enhance price volatility as market activity increases.

Likewise CryptoQuant data also showed that Binance’s Ether reserves dropped to approximately 3.46 million ETH, the lowest level since 2020. In previous cycles, reserves peaked above five million ETH before entering a gradual downward trend characterized by lower highs. The latest readings deepen this decline.

With ETH trading below $2,000, the decline in supply on the exchange is shifting attention to future demand. If purchasing pressure increases and reserves continue to decline, the available liquidity on the order books could narrow further around the $2,000 threshold.

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The market remains segmented between retail and whales

Hyblock’s data highlighted discrepancies in deal size. Cumulative volume delta (CVD), which tracks aggressive net buying and selling, is close to $95 million for smaller trades ($0 to $10,000). This shows continued purchasing pressure from retail.

In contrast, the $10,000-$100,000 trading bracket sees approximately -$162 million in CVD, while the above $100,000 category is near -$357 million. As observed, larger participants tended towards net selling over the same period.

The bid-to-sell ratio became slightly positive, rising to around 0.2 before falling to 0.03, indicating slightly more buying interest in recent sessions. This move follows a series of negative readings and indicates short-term stabilization rather than broad confidence.

Total open interest stands at nearly $9.41 billion, up from near $10 billion at the end of February. Reduction signals indicate that leverage has been reduced as price consolidates from $1,900 to $2,000.

If retail accumulation continues and large-scale sales tardy, bullish positioning could become more even. In this case, the reduced supply on the exchange could strengthen the price movement as ETH consolidates above $2,000-2,150.

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