Four long-dormant Ethereum addresses just made their first move in roughly eight years. The wallets originally received 37,602 ETH in 2018 at around $830 per coin. On June 26, they sold 33,623 ETH near $1,560 and generated approximately $52.5 million in proceeds. According to onchain analysts at Lookonchain, the estimated realized profit works out to around $27.4 million.
That figure sounds like a win. But these same wallets held through two full bull cycles, including peaks where unrealized gains exceeded $150 million. Selling now, during a sharp drawdown, tells a very different story.
Why Ethereum Dormant Wallet Selling Is Happening Now
Selling into weakness rather than into strength shifts the read from routine profit-taking to something closer to exhaustion. These weren’t traders reacting to a news headline. They were some of the most patient participants in Ethereum’s history, and they chose this moment to exit.
This sale also fits a broader 2026 pattern. In March, a separate early participant sold $31 million worth of ETH after a decade-long hold, reportedly through Coinbase. In April, an ICO-era investor transferred 10,000 ETH, worth roughly $23 million at the time, to a new address after more than ten years of inactivity. Each move adds old-holder supply into a market already struggling to find buyers.
ETH had slipped roughly 14.4% from its June 22 high of $1,773 before this activity was flagged by onchain trackers. That context makes the Ethereum dormant wallet selling difficult to dismiss as noise.
$1,500: The Floor Buyers Cannot Afford to Lose
Traders have circled the $1,500 area for months as Ethereum’s most critical structural support. ETH dipped to $1,510 during Thursday’s sell-off before stabilising near $1,550. The buying that appeared at that level prevented a new yearly low, though it wasn’t convincing.
Onchain analyst Darkfost flagged something more troubling: all three major Ethereum whale cohorts are currently sitting on unrealized losses. That hasn’t happened since 2019. Even during the 2022 bear market, the largest ETH holders stayed in profit. Today that’s no longer true, which weakens the incentive for large holders to absorb supply rather than add to it.
Crypto trader Ardi described $1,500 as Ethereum’s key long-term support, arguing that daily closes below it would challenge bullish assumptions built since the 2022 recovery. Trader Jelle warned a sustained break could return ETH to a trading range last seen in early 2023.
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Ethereum Dormant Wallet Selling Meets Weak ETF Demand
The challenge isn’t just old holders selling. The usual buyers are notably absent too. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded roughly $260 million in net outflows during the week ending June 26, a sharp acceleration from prior weeks. Institutional investors pulled back as expectations mounted for further Federal Reserve rate hikes. On June 26 alone, net outflows reached $12.85 million, led primarily by BlackRock’s ETHA.
Consistently negative ETF flows remove one of the market’s most reliable sources of new demand. Spot ETF inflows had supported crypto assets for much of the past year, so their reversal carries real weight here. The Ethereum Foundation’s budget cut of 40% and workforce reduction of 20% added further doubt for investors tracking the network’s near-term development direction.
Onchain analysts at The Block documented how these wallets held through cycle peaks that offered far greater returns than $1,560 per coin. Selling now, into falling prices and negative ETF flows, raises one pointed question: if they wouldn’t sell at $4,000, why now?
What an ETH Recovery Would Actually Require
A recovery scenario isn’t off the table, but it has clear requirements. ETH needs to hold $1,500 on a sustained closing basis, then reclaim $1,750 before the bearish chart structure begins to loosen. Analysts at Traders Union identify $1,602 as an early signal of near-term relief.
Live Ethereum price tracking at CoinDesk’s markets data confirms the token has spent most of June below all three major daily moving averages. The 200-day average sits near $2,381, far above where buyers are currently willing to act.
Some constructive onchain activity is visible. A wallet linked to venture firm a16z withdrew approximately 25,560 ETH from Binance during the same week, worth more than $42 million according to Lookonchain. Large exchange withdrawals of that size typically indicate long-term positioning. Accumulation is happening; it’s just competing against a louder flow of old-holder supply.
The Absorption Test Is Running
Supply from Ethereum dormant wallet selling isn’t inherently fatal to the market. Old-holder exits get absorbed regularly when fresh demand is growing. The problem here is the combination of factors. Demand is soft. ETF flows are negative. Institutional confidence is stretched, and the Ethereum Foundation has cut both its staff and spending. Together, those conditions turn $1,500 from a simple support level into a genuine test of buyer conviction.
If spot buyers can match the pace of old-holder supply, $1,500 becomes the foundation of a future recovery. If they can’t, the next support zone sits near $1,414. Some traders point further down, identifying $1,070–$1,370 as a potential accumulation band from the 2023 cycle.
The wallets that sold in June made a deliberate decision after years of patience. Whether the market can absorb that decision is now the central question for ETH through the rest of the summer.
