Ethereum Faces Three Warning Signs as Large Holders Sell

Mid-October starts with Ethereum (ETH) on the defensive, after the token shed 4.45% over seven days to trade at $2,503.76 on BeInCrypto Markets. A trio of bearish signals is now visible for the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Those signals relate to where ETH coins are held, who is transferring them, and what US buyers are willing to spend. Combined, they indicate that sellers are increasingly gaining the upper hand.

Whale Sales Gather Pace as Exchange Reserves Grow

Exchange reserves tracked by CryptoQuant increased from approximately 14.59 million ETH in late September to 14.93 million on October 14. Larger reserves indicate that more tokens are parked on trading platforms where they can be sold quickly.

Meanwhile, big holders are still shedding positions. An over-the-counter (OTC) whale identified by Lookonchain, wallet 0x8c58, sold 9,996 ETH worth roughly $25 million.

The wallet had acquired 52,001 ETH at an average of $2,162 and exited at $2,632, pocketing close to $24.48 million.

In a separate move, Patricio Worthalter, founder of the Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP), transferred 10,000 ETH, worth about $25.05 million, to Gemini. He had previously sent 4,000 ETH, about $10.02 million, to that exchange on October 11.

Ethereum OG pinosaur.eth, who bought ETH at a cost as low as $50, unstaked all 9,618 $ETH ($24.58M) and deposited it into #Kraken 8 hours ago.

pinosaur.eth originally bought 7,459 $ETH at $50 9 years ago, spending $373K at the time, now worth $19.26M. https://t.co/2kAFOlasfZ…

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 8, 2026

Coinbase Buying Slows as ETF Investors Withdraw

The third warning comes from the Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index, which slid to around -0.1173. That represents a two-month low.

This gauge compares ETH prices on Coinbase with those on Binance. A negative value shows ETH changing hands at a discount on Coinbase, a sign of muted demand there.

Demand for US spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is also losing steam. The funds saw outflows for 10 consecutive trading days through October 12, amounting to about $782.6 million.

On October 13, an inflow of $24.8 million broke that sequence. Still, SoSoValue data puts October net outflows at close to $695.4 million.

ETH is down 6.47% since the start of October. It now sits roughly 49% beneath the all-time high of $4,946.05 set on August 24, 2025.

Geopolitical and macroeconomic pressures are already weighing on the broader crypto market. If buyers hold back, ETH could add to its October slide. A turnaround would probably hinge on whales coming back to buy and ETF flows returning to positive territory.