ETH surged past $2,600 on Friday for the second time this month. Can this break out be different?
According to recent data shared by Santiment Intelligence, Ethereum’s recent rise past $2,600 came on the heels of returning whale activity, an impressive record for non-empty wallets, and the broader developments on the staking front.
Although the rise in whale transactions does not necessarily indicate outright accumulation since large transfers can represent both buying and selling, the actual price moves of the underlying asset leaned toward purchases.
Wallet Count Hits New Record
The data from the intelligence provided notes that the number of non-empty Ethereum wallets has climbed to a new record of over 207 million. The figure suggests that ETH ownership continues to spread even after months of relatively weak price action. At the same time, a substantial portion of Ethereum’s circulating supply remains committed to the network rather than sitting idle.
With entities such as Bitmine actively staking their substantial tokens, the number of ETH currently staked has grown to over 40 million. In addition, Ethereum continues to secure the leading place in terms of total value locked in decentralized finance with roughly $50 billion.
This combination highlights a broader point behind the latest recovery that drove the largest altcoin from under $2,400 a few days ago to over $2,600 now. Ethereum’s investment case is not being driven only by short-term price speculation. Instead, ETH remains deeply embedded in staking, stablecoins, lending, DEXes, and other DeFi applications.
Separately, using the network has become increasingly cheaper as the average transaction fee has fallen to under $0.1, down more than 85% from this year’s peak in April at $0.72.
Can ETH Keep Pumping?
The improving on-chain backdrop comes as the underlying asset approaches another important technical area. Popular analyst Ted Pillows has outlined the current resistance zone as a major hurdle in ETH’s path to recovery, with a sustained breakout potentially opening the door to new local peaks.
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On the short-term scale, Pillows said that if ETH closes above $2,550 this week, it will solidify its chances to run toward $2,900-$3,000, similar to what Ali Martinez predicted recently. The longer timeframe, though, might be even more positive for the altcoin, as Pillows outlined a massive target of up to $10,000 since the asset has “a lot of catching up to do with global M2 supply.”
Ethereum has a lot of catching up to do with global M2 supply.
$10,000 ETH remains the target by 2029. pic.twitter.com/u8M7KN9ywZ
— Ted (@TedPillows) September 19, 2026