Ethereum Taker Sell Volume Hits $1.2B, Signaling Heavy Selling Pressure

Ethereum (ETH) traders are unloading positions at a rapid pace, with taker sell volume hitting $1.2 billion in the past 24 hours.

The uptick in sell orders coincided with a 2.4% dip in ETH’s price that pushed it down to $4,272 late Monday, highlighting a shift in sentiment as speculative long positions begin to unwind.

Market Pullback Deepens as September Weakness Returns

According to data shared on X by analyst Maartunn, the sharp increase in taker sell volume is a reflection of the intensifying pressure on Ethereum’s order books, which may have triggered a breakdown of important technical supports.

Research firm Matrixport highlighted in its daily market update that trading volumes have halved from $122 billion to $57 billion in recent days, while funding rates fell below 10%, suggesting that appetite for leveraged long exposure is fading.

Consider also that September has historically been a soft month for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. It is why market analyst Benjamin Cowen argued on Monday that ETH could retrace to its 21-week exponential moving average near $3,500, repeating patterns seen in previous Septembers.

There have been similar corrections in past cycles, like in 2017, when ETH dropped more than 21% that month. Also, in 2021, it recorded a 12.5% loss before recovering to new highs later in the year.

Despite the current pullback, whales and institutions remain active. A recent report by Arkham Intelligence revealed that a Bitcoin whale converted $1 billion worth of the asset into ETH and staked it.

Additional data also shows that spot ETFs absorbed more Ethereum in August than was issued on-chain, leading analysts like Anthony Sassano to suggest that long-term structural demand from ETFs, treasuries, and tokenization projects may underpin the asset’s outlook even with short-term turbulence persisting.

Price Action and Technical Outlook

Looking at the market, at the time of this writing, Ethereum was trading at $4,387, down 1% in the last 24 hours and about 0.6% over the week, according to CoinGecko. The cryptocurrency may have lost some momentum since posting a new all-time high (ATH) of $4,946 on August 24, but it is still outperforming the broader crypto market, which fell 1.8% over the week.

Things are rosier across longer time frames, with ETH up 27% on the monthly chart, while being 79% higher compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, technical charts show it consolidating around the $4,200–$4,400 range, a zone identified as key support by multiple analysts.

Even in CryptoPotato’s latest assessment, it was noted that a decisive break below $4,200 could accelerate a slide toward $3,800. However, a rebound and reclaim of $4,600 would likely restore bullish momentum and open the door to retesting the ATH level.