Ethereum (ETH) Maintains Support Above $2,300 Amid Diverging Whale and Retail Activity

Table of Contents As of Tuesday, Ethereum continues to defend the $2,300 threshold, with current trading activity concentrated around the $2,370–$2,380 zone. The digital asset has registered a 0.8% increase in the last 24 hours and has climbed more than 3% across the past seven days. While the weekly performance appears positive, blockchain data reveals a more complex narrative unfolding beneath the price action. Addresses containing between 100 and 10,000 ETH have liquidated approximately 820K ETH within the last week. Expanding the timeframe to two weeks reveals this investor segment has offloaded nearly 1.5 million ETH total. The 90-day Mean Coin Age indicator has experienced a significant decline. This pattern indicates the majority of selling pressure originates from recent buyers rather than established holders. Staking behavior reinforces this trend. Approximately 300K ETH was removed from staking protocols last week — marking the most substantial weekly withdrawal since November. In derivative markets, perpetual funding rates for ETH have tracked negative throughout most of the recent month. Although open interest has climbed above 14 million ETH, futures market sentiment remains reserved. While retail participants have been reducing positions, whale-sized wallets are executing the opposite strategy. These large holders acquired roughly 230K ETH during the past week, partially absorbing the selling volume from smaller addresses. Liquidation data from the past 24 hours shows $38.7 million in forced position closures. Short liquidations accounted for $26.1 million of this total, providing upward momentum for the price. I’m seeing a golden cross between the 50 and 100 SMA on Ethereum $ETH, which could set up a move toward the 200 SMA at $2,680. pic.twitter.com/LkjDtvwwHJ — Ali Charts (@alicharts) May 5, 2026 Market analyst Ali Charts identified a golden cross pattern developing between the 50 and 100 simple moving averages on Ethereum’s chart, suggesting potential movement toward the 200 SMA positioned at $2,680. Conversely, analyst Ted Pillows expressed a more reserved outlook, highlighting that ETH has repeatedly struggled to surpass $2,400 and that downside vulnerability persists until that barrier is decisively broken. $ETH failed to break above the $2,400 level again. Despite Bitcoin's strength, Ethereum is still looking weak. Until ETH breaks above the $2,400 level, the risk of downside will go up. pic.twitter.com/WYyxuOrhdN — Ted (@TedPillows) May 5, 2026 Throughout April, ETH withdrawals from centralized exchanges declined to levels not observed since September 2024. Approximately 19.8 million ETH departed exchanges during this period. Binance recorded the highest outflows at 7.09 million ETH, with OKX following at 2.4 million and Coinbase Prime at 1.62 million. This reduction in withdrawal activity suggests certain investors are maintaining their ETH holdings on exchange platforms instead of transferring to self-custody solutions. Such behavior points to a cautious, observational stance rather than confident long-term accumulation. Technical analysis shows ETH has successfully regained the $2,200–$2,300 support region and established consecutive higher lows beginning in February. The 50-week and 100-week moving averages are positioned within the $2,500–$2,800 band and currently function as overhead resistance. Ethereum is now testing the $2,388 resistance threshold. The price continues trading beneath both the 50-week and 100-week moving averages.