Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) has dropped past over xviii% after establishing an all-time high around $4,867 on November. 10, now trading near $3,900. Nonetheless, the plunge has not deterred retail investors from buying the token in minor quantities.

According to information gathered by Glassnode — a blockchain analytics platform, the number of Ether addresses belongings less than or equal to 0.01 ETH reached a record high level of nineteen.95 1000000 on Dec. four, the day ETH dropped to as low every bit $3,575 (data from Coinbase).

Ethereum addresses with balances less than or equal to 0.01. Source: Glassnode

Meanwhile, the number of Ethereum wallets with balances of at least 0.1 ETH too kept climbing despite Ether's correction from $four,867 to $iii,575, eventually hitting a new all-fourth dimension high of half-dozen.37 1000000 on Dec. 12.

As a result, the number of Ether addresses with a non-zero balance also reached a new record loftier of virtually 70 1000000 on Dec. 12. In contrast, addresses holding less than or equal to 1 ETH dropped alongside prices, indicating that they were less interested in buying Ether'southward sessional dips.

Ethereum addresses with balances less than or equal to 1 ETH. Source: Glassnode

Bounce ahead?

The regular army of retail investors buying Ether in pocket-sized quantities marches ahead equally the ETH toll drops toward a support confluence.

Notably, Ether plunged Monday by over 5% to almost $three,900 in a selloff inspired by like corrections beyond the cryptocurrency space. Nonetheless, ETH toll reached an area that has been lately attracting buyers.

ETH/USD daily cost chart featuring Support Confluence. Source: TradingView

The first back up came from the lower trendline of the descending channel pattern — the blacked range shown in the chart in a higher place. Meanwhile, the purpled 100-day simple moving boilerplate (100-day SMA) and the cherry-red pullback surface area — every bit it has been since Oct. 20 — raised Ether'south potential to retrace upward in the near term.

While smaller retail investors seem to have been accumulating Ether, their larger counterparts look conflicted.

Ethereum addresses with balances less than or equal to ane,000 ETH. Source: Glassnode

For instance, Glassnode data shows a marginal recovery in the buying interest past the Ethereum wallets with balances of at least i,000 ETH. Still, overall, their numbers have gone down from near 7,200 to beneath 6,350 in 2022.

Exchanges' Ether balances

More upside cues come from Ether's declining balances across all the crypto exchanges.

The number of coins held by exchanges recovered from nearly 14 million ETH to xiv.13 million ETH since Dec. 9 — which coincided with an almost ten.fifty% toll driblet — but its long-term trend remains skewed to the downside.

Ethereum balance on all exchanges versus ETH price. Source: Glassnode

A lower ETH residual across exchanges hints at traders' intention to hold their coins or pale them in the pools of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects to earn yields instead of trading them for other assets.

Related: Data shows pro traders are currently more bullish on Ethereum than Bitcoin

DeFi's total value locked (TVL) sits at a new all-fourth dimension loftier higher up $250 billion, according to data provided by Defi Llama, out of which Ethereum'south TVL came out to be over $180 billion.

Total capital locked across the Ethereum ecosystem. Source: Defi Llama

"However, Ethereum's dominance over DeFi activity has taken a big hit in H2 2022," reminded Delphi Digital, a crypto-focused investment business firm, adding that:

"As the multi-chain narrative plays out, upper-case letter has moved to ecosystems similar Solana, Terra and Avalanche."

High gas fees have been the main reason behind investors seeking potential "Ethereum killers."

For instance, a decentralized exchange swap costs $70 on Ethereum simply $1 on Terra and Solana, although some analysts conceptualize that Ethereum's full transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake adjacent year would solve the loftier gas trouble.

"Ethereum's cost will ascent at a much faster rate than Bitcoin, due to the move to proof-of-stake," noted Tom Higgins, CEO at nugget management platform Gilt-i.

The views and opinions expressed hither are solely those of the writer and exercise non necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a conclusion.