Staking demand drains Ether from exchanges as price stays range-bound

Santiment said exchange balances peaked in July at about 12.31 million ETH and have since declined to roughly 8.15 million, a drop the firm linked to continued staking interest while price action stays muted. Ether has traded between about $2,801 and $3,034 over the past seven days, according to the data cited in the update.

The supply shift is coinciding with a crowded validator entry pipeline. Ethereum’s validator queue data showed roughly 3.6 million ETH lined up to enter staking, implying a forecast wait of about 63 days, while the exit side was far smaller at around 44,448 ETH with an estimated 18-hour wait. The network limits how many validators can enter and exit per epoch to protect stability, which can stretch waiting times when demand spikes.

Total staked Ether has climbed above 36 million ETH, or roughly 29% of supply, up from about 35 million in June, based on figures referenced from beaconcha.in and Dune Analytics.

Several large staking-related flows were also flagged alongside the broader trend. Data cited from Lookonchain said BitMine staked an additional 250,912 ETH and is estimated to have more than 2.5 million ETH staked in total, representing about 61% of its holdings. Separately, Lookonchain said four staking wallets withdrew more than 26,000 ETH from Binance, suggesting accumulation activity tied to staking addresses.

The broader staking base has also been expanding. Separate market coverage in January put total staked Ether at roughly 36 million ETH, close to 30% of supply, reinforcing the idea that incremental ETH is being locked into validator collateral rather than sitting on exchanges.