Will Ethereum Price Drop to $4,000 As the Foundation Offloads $30M in ETH?

Ethereum price is now trading near $4,600, down from its recent high above $4,870. The price has dropped by about 5.5% in the past 48 hours, and on-chain data shows some reasons behind this move.

The biggest concern right now is that the Ethereum Foundation has been selling a large amount of ETH.

Add to that rising exchange inflows and over three billion dollars worth of ETH waiting to be unstaked, and things start to look shaky in the short term.

Foundation Wallets Are Selling, and Thats a Big Deal

One of the most important Ethereum-linked wallets, funded directly by the Ethereum Foundation in 2017, recently sold more than 4,000 ETH. These sales were spread out across three major transactions:

• 1,300 ETH at $4,518
• 1,100 ETH at $4,602
• 1,695 ETH at $4,556

Ethereum Foundation keeps selling ETH- Source: Lookonchain

That adds up to 4,095 ETH, which is worth over $18.7 million. This is on top of an earlier sale of 2,795 ETH valued at around $12.7 million, bringing the total offloaded to about $31.5 million.

All this ETH came from a wallet that originally received 20,756 ETH directly from the Foundation.

These are not random whale moves. When the Foundation sells, it often signals caution to traders, and historically, it has aligned with local tops or periods of price cool-off.

The timing of these sales, right as ETH was nearing all-time highs, adds to the fear that ETH might be heading into a pullback phase.

3B Dollars Worth of ETH Is Waiting to Unstake

Another major issue is the massive validator exit queue. According to data from Beaconchain, there are 699,600 ETH currently waiting to be unstaked.

That volume equals more than 3.2 billion dollars at todays price. The exit queue is long; it would take over 12 days to fully process these exits if the pace continues.

Unstaking pressure might hit the Ethereum price prediction- Source: David Arnal

Even if a portion of this ETH is sold, it would still create extra supply in the market. That kind of pressure doesn‘t always show up instantly, but it’s building in the background and could weigh on price in the coming days.

Whale Activity and Inflows Suggest Caution For Ethereum Price

Aside from the Foundation sales and staking exits, a large whale recently dumped 20,600 ETH, locking in profits of over $26 million.

This ETH was originally bought at around $3,400, and the sale price near $4,687 marked a nearly 38% gain.

Thats not unusual behavior for a whale, but it adds to the growing list of signs that major players are taking profit.

Whales keep selling ETH in tandem- Source: Lookonchain

On-chain data also shows that exchange inflows for Ethereum are rising, which usually signals upcoming sell pressure.

Ethereum inflows continue to outpace BTC inflows: Source: Julio Moreno

More ETH is being sent to centralized exchanges, while Bitcoin inflows remain relatively stable. This is not a healthy sign for ETH in the near term.

Ethereum price action- Source: TradingView

At the same time, price charts show that Ethereum lost the key $4,700 support and has now dropped below $4,600.

The next big support zones lie at $4,200 and $4,000. If ETH doesnt bounce from here, a move to the $4,000 range could happen fast.

Is the Ethereum Price Headed to $4,000？

Right now, Ethereum is under pressure from multiple angles. The Foundation is selling. A whale just cashed out tens of millions.

Validators are exiting in large numbers, and on-chain flows are moving toward exchanges. At the same time, macro factors, like the recent rise in producer inflation (PPI) in the U.S., are making it harder for high-risk assets to rally.

If interest rate cuts get delayed, its likely that buyers might sit on the sidelines for now.

Still, some traders believe that the larger cycle structure remains intact. Ethereum has broken out of long-term patterns that could still push the price much higher in the future.

Long-term Ethereum price bullishness exists- Source: Gert van Lagen

But short-term？ The warning signs are real.

Unless we see strong buying or a reversal in the on-chain flows, the Ethereum price could be on track to test $4,000 soon.