Ether has faced a challenging period in terms of price performance since early August, dropping below the $1,800 mark. The trend has consistently exhibited a downward trajectory on longer-term price charts, making it a daunting task for buyers to reverse this course.
As a result of this increased bearish market structure, retail traders of Ether appear to be on the run. Ether addresses with above 1 ETH have been on a significant decline.
On September 25th, the number of these holder addresses in this cohort had hit 1.74 million, representing a three-month low.
This suggested a dwindling appetite of retail investors for wallets with relatively modest Ether holdings as the market conditions prompted them to reduce their exposure to the crypto asset.
Meanwhile, another cohort of retail holders – the number of addresses holding over 10 ETH – also met a similar fate, reaching a 3-month low of 347.8k.
The number of addresses Holding 0.1 ETH also hit a 5-month low of 5.12 million. Such a pronounced trend among the small Ether addresses could further suggest a lack of confidence in the altcoin’s short-term prospects despite minor hints of opportunity for traders.
Ether’s transaction volume (7d MA) also dropped to $56.13 million, its lowest in eight months. The Ethereum network’s average transaction fee also declined to its lowest point for the year, coinciding with a decrease in on-chain activity.
It’s worth highlighting that this decline occurs as the supply of ETH has shifted back to an inflationary phase.
