Ethereum Staking Queue Turns Net Positive After Six Months

Ethereum’s staking queue has turned positive for the first time in six months. More ETH is now waiting to enter staking than to exit. Data from Ethereum Validator Queue shows about 745,619 ETH in the entry line with a wait time close to 13 days. The exit line stands near 360,518 ETH with an eight day wait.

The switch happened on Dec. 27 when both queues were near 460,000 ETH. Since then, the entry side has climbed fast while the exit side has kept shrinking. Market participants are watching the exit queue closely because it tracks ETH that could hit the market through unstaking.

The last time the entry and exit queues switched sides was in June. At that time, ETH traded just above $2,800. By Aug. 24, ETH had reached a record high of $4,946. As of Monday, ETH trades near $3,018.

Ethereum runs on proof of stake. Validators must lock up ETH to secure the network. When ETH enters staking, it is removed from liquid supply. When validators leave, that ETH can be sold. A rising entry queue points to holders willing to lock coins for yield rather than sell at current prices.

Exit Queue Nears Zero

Abdul, head of DeFi at Monad, said on X that the exit queue acts as a forward view of supply pressure. He said selling tied to unstaking has been active since July.

Abdul said about 5% of ETH supply has changed hands since July. This includes a full validator exit by Kiln in September. Kiln pulled its validators as a safety step after an exploit tied to SwissBorg.

He added that about 70% of the unstaked ETH was absorbed by BitMine. BitMine now holds around 3.4% of total ETH supply. At the current pace, Abdul expects the exit queue to hit zero around Jan. 3. If that happens, unstaking driven selling would largely dry up.

Treasury Buying and Staking Demand

Onchain data shows large buyers behind the shift. Lookonchain reported that BitMine staked 342,560 ETH in the past two days. At current prices, that equals about $1 billion.

Other traders pointed to upgrades and market structure changes. Ignas from Pink Brains said the Pectra upgrade improved staking flow for large balances by raising validator limits. He also noted that higher borrow rates on Aave forced some leveraged stETH positions to unwind, freeing ETH that later moved back into staking.

With fewer validators leaving and large holders locking supply, staking demand has become the dominant force in Ethereum’s validator flow.