Wintermute flagged Ethereum (ETH) as the "wrong asset for this macro" on Tuesday after a 10.2% weekly drop pushed the ETH/Bitcoin (BTC) ratio to a 10-month low of 0.0275.
Wintermute Posts 10.2% ETH Slide
The market maker posted the warning on X, citing underperformance across spot and derivatives along with softer funding and elevated relative implied volatility. ETH traded near $2,119 on May 20, leaving it trailing Bitcoin and several large-cap peers.
The ETH/BTC ratio has not printed this low since July 2025.
Spot Ether ETFs recorded $255 million in outflows last week, the largest weekly withdrawal since late January.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs also registered net outflows over the same stretch, a sign the pressure runs broader than one asset.
Reserves on Binance climbed from 3.4 million ETH to nearly 3.8 million ETH through May. Total exchange reserves rose from 14.5 million to 14.94 million ETH, hinting at more sell-side liquidity on standby.
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Whales Accumulate As Taker Ratio Sinks
Not every signal leans bearish. Santiment data shows wallets holding 1 million to 10 million ETH lifted their stack from 6.15 million to 6.54 million ETH between May 1 and May 20, adding roughly 390,000 coins.
Mid-tier holders went the other way.
Wallets in the 10,000 to 100,000 ETH band cut positions from 27.77 million to 27.27 million ETH over the same window, a split that suggests supply is rotating toward deeper-pocketed buyers while short-term sellers set the tape.
CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost highlighted that the weekly Taker Buy Sell Ratio on Binance fell to 0.91, the lowest reading since September 2023. A value under 1 means sellers dominate order flow, a condition that can precede a short squeeze when positioning gets too crowded.
ETH Price History And Range
Ethereum has spent most of the year inside a wide $1,500 to $4,000 range and has corrected nearly 9% over the past seven days alone. The asset has lost ground against Bitcoin for much of the cycle, with the ETH/BTC ratio sliding steadily from the spring through Tuesday's low.
Long-dated U.S. Treasury yields above 5% have added to the pressure, lifting the discount rate on assets whose bull case rests on future cash flows. Federal Reserve commentary in the weeks ahead may decide which side breaks first.
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