Ethereum has experienced a 26% price surge over the week, pushing the asset to $2,500 and reversing losses sustained during the second quarter when prices dipped to $1,500 in June. The recent market movement coincided with notable shifts in holdings across different investor cohorts.
Data from Santiment indicates that Ethereum's largest whale wallets, holding over 1,000 ETH, reduced their combined holdings by 1.7 million coins between May and August. Overall holdings for this cohort dropped 2.9% from 58.64 million ETH to 56.91 million ETH. Concurrently, mega whale holdings across exchanges and staking contracts decreased from 7.07 million ETH to 6.54 million ETH.
Conversely, retail accumulation grew during the Q2 drawdown. Wallet addresses holding between 1 and 10 ETH increased their share to over 4.5% of the circulating supply over the same timeframe.
Market demand has also been supported by staking and exchange-traded funds. Staked ETH increased from 39 million coins to a record 42.3 million coins, representing a 35% staking ratio according to Beacon chain data. Meanwhile, Glassnode figures show that the U.S. Spot ETH ETF complex transitioned into a net buyer position since July, recording weekly inflows exceeding 34,000 ETH.
Activity within the options market, tracked by Deribit, reflects varied positioning among institutional and sophisticated players. In a 24-hour window, top trading volume for end-of-August expiries consisted of bullish call options targeting $2,500. For mid- and late-September expiries, bullish bets concentrated around $2,900 and $3,000. Additionally, the highest put volume appeared at the $2,000 strike price, indicating that institutional participants viewed $2,000 as a potential floor price.
