Ethereum supply tightens after $19.5M whale withdrawal – Is $2,100 in sight?

Ethereum whale accumulation and staking tightened supply as spot buyers maintained dominance near key resistance.

Written by Evans Boto

Reviewed by Jacob Thomas

Updated 09:00 EDT August 18, 2026

An Ethereum [ETH] whale moved 10.3K ETH, valued at approximately $19.5 million, off Kraken in a span of just 24 hours.

The activity followed the previous pattern of withdrawal of the wallet, and it also decreased the amount of funds held by the wallet on the exchange. Notably, the whale withdrew another 5K ETH worth approximately $9.53 million in the most recent transaction.

However, accumulation alone did not capture the full supply implications behind these movements. The wallet also staked 2.02K ETH, worth approximately $3.84 million, through Ethereum’s Beacon Deposit Contract. Therefore, part of the withdrawn supply moved toward staking instead of remaining immediate available liquidity.

This positioning reinforced the accumulation narrative where the exchange withdrawals came with reduced immediately available supply.

Spot buyers reinforced the whale accumulation

Spot Taker CVD added another bullish layer as the 90-day indicator remained buyer-dominant as of writing. Market buyers maintained a greater aggressive execution than sellers across the measured period.

Importantly, the whale’s exchange withdrawals were not against the general supply trend, but rather reinforced it with buyer dominance. Exchange withdrawals reduced available holdings, while taker activity reflected active buying pressure across the spot market.

Long-term taker dominance will continue to be crucial in driving higher price action from tighter supply. Whale withdrawals may also shrink the liquidity on the exchange side, while continued aggressive buying can lead to more competition for the scarce Ethereum.

Both trends had a positive impact on the buying side and bolstered the emerging supply-demand structure.

Funding stayed positive as conviction weakened

Derivatives traders maintained a bullish bias, although their conviction weakened considerably during the latest period. At press time, Ethereum’s Funding Rate remained positive at 0.003827 despite falling by 53.53% in 24 hours.

Positive funding indicated that long positions still paid shorts, keeping leveraged positioning tilted toward buyers. Yet, the sharp decline reflected weaker enthusiasm compared to the preceding funding environment.

Meanwhile, leveraged conviction cooled while spot demand retained a more constructive profile. The divergence was more about the shift of focus from ever-more aggressive leveraged exposure to the organic buying. The lower funding may also limit risks of overheating as ETH buyers try to test resistance levels in the area.

A renewed funding increase alongside persistent spot dominance would strengthen bullish positioning across the markets. For now, derivatives traders retain a long-side bias, although declining funding weakened confirmation from leveraged participants.

Can ETH finally challenge $1,960 resistance?

At the time of analysis, Ethereum traded near $1,899 after repeatedly holding above the $1,870.61 support area. Meanwhile, the $1,960.50 resistance continued restricting the recovery from above.

On the shorter time frame, Parabolic SAR indicated a bull market stance after it turned below price towards $1,822.08, at the time of writing. Buyers therefore gained additional technical support while ETH remained above its immediate support at $1,735.31.

RSI reached 53.96, sitting above its 53.18 average, thus keeping the reading slightly above neutral territory. More importantly, that position allowed for additional purchases with no room to overbuy Ethereum.

A decisive break above $1,960.50 could open a path toward the $2,100 resistance zone. Sustained whale withdrawals and spot buying would further bolster the market conditions for this expansion.

But if the recovery structure fails to hold, then $1,735.31 becomes a significant support level.