- Ethereum staking and deposit contracts soar to new ATHs.
- ETH struggles to regain bullish momentum as whales sell pressure prevails.
Now is a good time to assess Ethereum and its native coin’s performance as April comes to its conclusion. ETH managed to push to a new YTD high during mid-month but investors’ confidence has dwindled since.
However, there is one aspect of the network that may rejuvenate investors’ interest.
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Although ETH’s price action has been affected by shifting market dynamics, there is one area in which Ethereum has maintained a more pleasing performance.
According to a recent Glassnode report, ETH 2.0 deposit contracts have been experiencing robust growth and recently reached a new all-time high.
📈 #Ethereum $ETH Total Value in the ETH 2.0 Deposit Contract just reached an ATH of 18,868,062 ETH
View metric:https://t.co/SzbMPqvhlb pic.twitter.com/B9sqXP3t8s
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) April 30, 2023
But what does it mean for the network? Well, the higher deposit contracts reflect more confidence in the network.
It also reflects the growing amount of ETH staked. The total value of ETH staked stood at slightly over 19 million ETH and was at a new all-time high (ATH), at the time of writing.
Source: CryptoQuant
Understanding the lack of price correlation
Although ETH staked and deposit contracts have reached new highs, ETH’s price action has not necessarily reaped the benefits. This is largely because the cryptocurrency has experienced outflows since the second week of April.
As a result, its price tanked by a significant margin. ETH’s $1918 press time price represented a 10.8% discount from its current 2023 high.
So why is ETH still holding back? Well, part of the reason is that whales have been trimming their balances. Addresses holding over 1000 ETH have contributed to selling pressure since the second week of April.
Source: Glassnode
Precisely, the selling pressure from whales continued especially in the second half of April. As a result, bullish expectations were curtailed, and sell pressure was fueled by leveraged long liquidations. This brings us to the question of- What to expect in the first half of May.
Realistic or not, here’s Ethereum market cap in BTC’s terms
We observed a slight recovery in open interest in the last five days, as well as an increase in demand for leverage.
Source: CryptoQuant
The recovery suggests that the market condition is improving gradually, but it also indicates low demand. As noted earlier, ETH whales are still selling. This means the bulls may still not show off their strength until the whales cease selling and contribute to bullish volumes.