Ethereum Watch

• The staking rate rose from 14.13% on the day of the upgrade to 14.61% as of 19 April.
• As per Nansen’s dashboard, just about 4.08% of the total locked ETH was waiting to be unstaked.

Since the successful launch of the Shapella Upgrade, Ethereum [ETH] exhibited bullish tendencies. The positive sentiment propelled the king of altcoin beyond the $2,000 level for the first time since May 2022, marking a year-to-date (YTD) gain of 76%.

Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price Prediction 2023-24

At the time of writing though, ETH retraced to $1,949 as per CoinMarketCap, following the FUD triggered by SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s iffy response on the status of ETH.

However, this takes nothing away from the impetus provided by Shapella. Moreover, data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen revealed that the ETH inflows have started to surpass outflows. This indicated that users were restaking their rewards for better returns.

Staked ETH deposits now outpacing withdrawals

• Withdrawals are now possible, boosting confidence
• People restaking their ETH rewards for higher yield
• Potential negative balance wave as full withdrawals are processed in 18-20 days

Dashboard 👉 https://t.co/AcFM8zBb7Z pic.twitter.com/On0BxwydHV

— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) April 19, 2023

FUD around ETH staking wanes

As per Nansen, the total number of ETH staked reversed its downward trajectory since 17 April. This was marked by increasing deposits and falling withdrawals.

Data from CryptoQuant added more evidence to this assertion. The staking rate, or the percentage of eligible tokens that were being staked, rose from 14.13% on the day of the upgrade to 14.61% as of 19 April.

The confidence of users in ETH was also reflected in the withdrawal patterns. As per Nansen’s dashboard, just about 4.08% of the total locked ETH was waiting to be unstaked.

In a CNBC interview, Nansen research analyst Niklas stated that most stakers were applying for partial withdrawals of their accrued rewards and restaking them.

ETH poised for more gains

In what was a testimony to ETH’s bullish tendencies, the supply outside exchanges exceeded the exchange supply by a big margin, at the time of writing.

This ruled out concerns of an immediate sell-off, discussions around which heightened leading to the launch of Shapella.

 Is your portfolio green? Check out the Ethereum Profit Calculator

ETH in the derivatives market

Money started to flow in the ETH futures market as the Open Interest (OI) consistently maintained an average of more than $7 billion since the launch of Shapella. This was its best performance in more than a year.

At the time of writing, the OI was $12.07 billion, recording a marginal drop in the last 24 hours. Most of the traders were positioned for an increase in the price of ETH as funding rates across most top exchanges were positive.

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