BlackRock Dumps $151M ETH While Whales Go Long: Who's Wrong?

Co-produced by Daniel Aharonoff and DigitalDan

As the chief editor of ethdan.me, I've watched a lot of Ethereum standoffs over the years. But what happened this week is one of the strangest splits I've ever seen. On one side of the market, the biggest name in finance — BlackRock — just moved $151 million worth of Ethereum onto Coinbase Prime, the kind of transfer that usually means one thing: selling. On the other side, Ethereum's whales are piling into long positions for the first time since July, and the people who stake their ETH are refusing to budge even as the price slides toward $2,000.

So here we are, staring at the same chart, the same price, the same network — and two groups of very smart, very well-funded players are betting in opposite directions. Somebody is wrong. The only question is who.

Let's break down exactly what's happening, why it matters, and what it could mean for your ETH.

What's the Big Deal? Ethereum's $2,000 Test

Ethereum is trading near $2,060 today, Wednesday, November 11, 2026. That doesn't sound dramatic until you zoom out. ETH is down about 10% over the past week, and overnight it dipped to $2,010 — its lowest price since August 19. It has now closed below its 200-day moving average ($2,152) for the first time since mid-August, and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index reads 29, deep in "Fear" territory.

The trigger, at least on the surface, was macro. October's U.S. inflation report came in hotter than expected — CPI rose 0.4% month over month, with core CPI up 0.3% against a 0.2% forecast. Hot inflation means the Federal Reserve is less likely to cut rates soon, Treasury yields climb, and risk assets like crypto take the hit. Bitcoin slid toward $73,700 on the same news.

But the macro story only explains the spark. The real story is what the money did next — and the money is split right down the middle.

BlackRock's $151 Million Move: The Institutional Exit

Let's start with the sellers, because their move is the loudest.

On November 10, on-chain tracker Lookonchain reported that addresses associated with BlackRock transferred 72,212 ETH — worth about $151.4 million — into Coinbase Prime. Transfers to an exchange prime brokerage account are the classic setup for a sale, and this one is not an isolated event. Since October 1, BlackRock-linked wallets have moved a net 791,758 ETH out — that's an enormous, sustained rotation away from holding Ethereum directly.

The ETF data tells the same story in a different font. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $184.6 million in net outflows on November 9, the third straight session of withdrawals, with BlackRock's own ETHA fund accounting for $119.3 million of that total. For the week of November 2 to 6, ETH ETFs shed about $365 million — the sixth consecutive weekly outflow. Total ETF assets have fallen to roughly $12.84 billion, and cumulative net inflows have slipped to about $11.74 billion.

And the pain didn't stop there. More than $462 million in Ethereum positions were liquidated over 24 hours, mostly longs — traders who bet on a rebound got flushed out. Across Binance, Bybit and OKX alone, liquidations totaled $126.08 million, with longs accounting for $111.16 million, or 88.2% of the total.

If you only read those numbers, the verdict looks obvious: the institutions are leaving, the leveraged bulls are getting wrecked, and Ethereum is in trouble.

But then you look at the other side of the ledger. And that's where it gets interesting.

Why You Should Care: The Whales Are Going Long

While BlackRock was moving coins toward an exchange, Ethereum's whales were quietly doing the opposite — increasing their long exposure.

According to on-chain data, the Ethereum Whale vs. Retail Delta climbed above 0.3 this week, moving into positive territory after spending much of October below zero. In plain English: whales have shifted toward long positions for the first time since July. The biggest wallets are betting the price goes up from here, not down.

That's not the only whale signal flashing green. Santiment reported more than 630 daily transactions involving at least $100,000 in Lido staked Ethereum (stETH) in early November — the highest sustained level since April 2026. Activity has been climbing for four straight days, and borrowing against stETH as collateral is rising too. Whales aren't just holding; they're actively positioning.

Then there's the famous "7 Siblings" wallets — a group of deep-pocketed ETH holders with a track record worth respecting. They just bought 10,792 ETH for about $22 million at roughly $2,080, using borrowed stablecoins through Spark. This is a group that bought 24,817 ETH near $1,700 in early April 2025 and sold 19,461 ETH near $4,532 in August — a roughly 167% gain. They don't buy dips for fun. They buy dips because they've done the math.

So ask yourself: when the whales who called the last cycle correctly are buying with borrowed money at $2,080, while BlackRock is sending coins to Coinbase — who's reading this market right?

The Stakers Who Refuse to Sell

Here's the part of the story that genuinely surprised me, and it might be the most important number in this entire article.

Ethereum has fallen roughly 20% from its recent highs. In any normal market, you'd expect a stampede for the exits — stakers unstaking, validators queuing up to sell. Instead, the opposite happened.

On October 11, approximately 457,840 ETH was waiting in the queue to leave staking. By November 9, that figure had collapsed nearly 99% — to just 5,061 ETH. The exit queue has since rebounded to roughly 66,000 ETH, according to ValidatorQueue, but that is still about 86% below October's level.

Meanwhile, approximately 44.5 million ETH — representing 36.4% of circulating supply — remains staked. The entry queue tells the other half of the story: 903,754 ETH is currently waiting to get into staking. More than 810,000 validators are actively securing the network. In other words, for every person trying to leave staking, roughly fourteen are trying to join it.

CryptoQuant analyst PelinayPA argues that growing staking participation could support prices over the medium to long term by reducing the immediately available supply. That logic is hard to argue with: ETH locked in staking contracts can't be panic-sold. And right now, more than a third of all ETH is locked up that way.

Think about what that means. The price fell 20%. The headlines screamed fear. And the staking exit queue — the purest measure of whether long-term holders want out — nearly vanished. The stakers looked at a 20% drawdown and said: no thanks, we're staying.

1. The ETF selling is slowing — fast

Here's a detail that changes the whole picture. After that brutal $184.6 million outflow on November 9, ETF outflows collapsed to just $1.32 million on November 10 — a 99% drop in selling in a single day. BlackRock's ETHA saw no outflows at all after its $119 million withdrawal the day before. The bleeding hasn't turned into buying yet, but the selling has essentially stopped. That's often how bottoms begin: not with a buying frenzy, but with the sellers running out of things to sell.

2. BitMine is nearly done buying — and that's bullish

BitMine, the largest corporate holder of Ethereum, now owns 6,070,092 ETH — about 4.97% of the entire supply — and plans to stop buying when it hits 5%. It bought 9,587 ETH just last week, and roughly 5.23 million of its ETH is staked through its MAVAN platform. BitMine estimates its staking rewards at roughly $285–309 million a year. The company reported a $6.3 billion net loss for the fiscal year to August 31, including $6.2 billion in unrealized losses as ETH fell — but staking and validation generated $121.4 million, about 97% of its revenue. When the biggest buyer in the market is about to finish its program and switch to earning yield instead, the supply dynamics shift in a hurry.

3. The $2,000 level is the line in the sand

Analyst Ted Pillows expects ETH to revisit $2,000, and the technical picture backs up the tension: ETH sits 4.2% below its 200-day average, 9.3% below its 20-day average, and 16% below its 50-day. Support sits at $2,030–$2,050, with $2,100–$2,150 as the first recovery barrier. The next daily close will be a big tell. Hold $2,000 and the whale thesis gains credibility. Lose it, and the BlackRock exit thesis takes the wheel.

Who's Wrong? My Take

As the chief editor of ethdan.me, I'm not going to pretend I know the future. But I will tell you what the evidence actually says, because the two sides are not making the same kind of bet.

BlackRock's move looks like risk management, not a verdict on Ethereum. Institutions de-risk when inflation surprises to the upside and rate-cut hopes fade. Moving coins to a prime brokerage account is what a giant asset manager does when it wants optionality. It's a macro trade, not a crypto obituary.

The whales and the stakers, on the other hand, are making an Ethereum-specific bet. They're betting that a network with 36% of its supply staked, an entry queue of over 900,000 ETH, and corporate treasuries earning hundreds of millions in staking yield is not a network in decline. They're betting that the supply squeeze — the same dynamic that powered our best-performing posts all autumn — eventually overwhelms the macro headwinds.

History favors the patient side here, but only barely, and only over time. ETF flows can reverse in a week. Staking locks last for months. The whales going long for the first time since July is a real signal — July, remember, was the last time ETH was gearing up for a serious run.

What I do know is this: the most dangerous moment in a market is when everyone agrees. And right now, nobody agrees. That's exactly when the biggest moves get made.

What to Watch Next

• ETF flows: If outflows stay near zero — or flip positive — the institutional selling story is over. Watch BlackRock's ETHA first; it drove the November 9 outflow.
• The $2,000 level: A daily close below $2,000 opens the door to deeper losses. A hold here, with ETF selling exhausted, sets up the rebound case toward $2,500 that some analysts are already floating.
• The staking queues: If the exit queue stays low and the entry queue stays near a million ETH, the supply squeeze thesis keeps strengthening week by week.
• Whale positioning: If the Whale vs. Retail Delta keeps climbing and stETH whale transactions stay above 600 a day, the smart money is voting with its wallet.
• U.S. producer price data on November 13: Another hot inflation print could extend the macro pain; a cool one could flip the whole board.

Final Thoughts

Ethereum is sitting at a crossroads, and the two sides of this market could not be more clearly drawn. BlackRock moved $151 million in ETH to Coinbase. The ETFs just suffered their sixth straight week of outflows. The price is testing $2,000, fear is in the air, and the leveraged longs have been wiped out.

And yet — the whales are going long for the first time since July. The staking exit queue collapsed 99%. Over 900,000 ETH is waiting to stake. ETF selling fell off a cliff in a single day. The 7 Siblings are buying the dip with borrowed money, just like they did at $1,700 in April.

One of these groups is about to look very smart, and the other is about to look very wrong. My money is on the side that understands Ethereum's supply story — but the market will render its verdict soon enough, and I'll be here covering every twist of it.

Stay tuned to ethdan.me for the latest Ethereum news, price analysis, and the money flows that actually move this market. And tell me in the comments: are you with BlackRock, or with the whales?

Co-produced by Daniel Aharonoff and DigitalDan