Something massive is happening behind the scenes with Ether supply, and it feels like the calm before the storm.
Last Thursday, the amount of Ether sitting on centralized exchanges crashed to just 8.7% of total supply, the lowest level since Ethereum launched back in 2015.
By Sunday it still didn’t move, holding at 8.8% according to Glassnode. This is Ether supply disappearing from the places where people actually sell it.
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Historic Ether Supply Crunch Is Unfolding Right Now
Since early July, exchange-held ETH has plummeted over 43%. That timing aligns perfectly with the explosion in digital asset treasury (DAT) buying and a flood of Ether moving into staking, restaking, Layer-2 bridges, collateral loops, and cold storage that never comes back to market.
As macro research feed Milk Road put it: “ETH is quietly entering its tightest supply environment ever, a level we’ve never seen before.”
For context, Bitcoin still has 14.7% of its supply parked on exchanges. Ether supply is now dramatically scarcer on trading venues than BTC and the gap keeps widening.
All this locked-up Ether supply means one thing: when demand finally turns there’s almost nothing left to sell without pushing the price straight up.
Milk Road says that “Sentiment feels heavy right now, but sentiment doesn’t dictate supply. ETH supply is tightening in the background while the market decides its next move. When that gap closes, price follows.”
Hidden Buying Strength Flashing on the Charts
While everyone stares at the price chopping sideways, the on-balance volume (OBV) indicator just broke out hard.
Analyst Sykodelic highlighted that OBV smashed above key resistance even though price got rejected at the top, a textbook bullish divergence that usually shows smart money quietly accumulating.
“This is a sign of buying strength, and typically the price will follow,” Sykodelic wrote.
“OBV has been one of the most reliable leading indicators I’ve ever used. Mix that with the clean bullish price action we’re seeing, and I think we go much higher before any real pullback.”
Meanwhile, the ETH/BTC pair just broke its multi-month downtrend which is another quiet signal that Ether strength might be ready to shine again.
