According to data and market reports from Beaconcha.in, the Ethereum validator output queue has been reduced to just 32 ETH, with a wait time of around a minute. This is a sharp drop from its mid-September high of 2.67 million ETH – a drop of almost one hundred percent. Markets often react when stranded assets are put up for sale. Currently, this specific source of immediate sales seems to have disappeared.
Validator output queue almost empty
The exit mechanism limits how quickly validators can stop validating and withdraw their entire stake. With a near-zero queue, there is no backlog waiting to be collected. This reduces a form of nervous selling.
Validators still earn rewards while in queue and can be penalized if they misbehave, but the bottleneck that once forced slow exits is gone. Reports show that the withdrawal process for partial payments remains separate and these smaller payments continue without affecting the full output flow.
Entrance queue hits new heights
According to reports, the entry queue has reached around 1.3 million ETH, its highest level since mid-November. Large operators are sending pieces of ETH for staking. BitMine started staking on December 26 and added 82,560 ETH to the queue on January 3. The company now lists 659,219 ETH staked, worth approximately $2.1 billion at current prices.
BitMine’s broader holdings total just over 4.1 million ETH, representing approximately 3.4% of the total supply and are valued at nearly $13 billion. These moves add real, measurable demand for staked Ether and help explain why fewer validators appear eager to leave.
Foreign exchange balances and liquidity
Foreign exchange reserves for ETH are at their lowest level in several years. This is important because when fewer coins are parked on trading platforms, automatic or panic selling becomes more difficult to achieve. Traders and analysts point to this as a reason why selling pressure is easing.
Some industry figures have been cited claiming that the exit queue is “basically empty” and that selling pressure is drying up as stakes exceed withdrawals. However, the market can move in other ways: derivatives, lending desks, and off-exchange trading can change exposure without touching staking queues.
BULLISH: $ETH overtakes Netflix to regain its position as 36th asset in terms of market capitalization. pic.twitter.com/NetdCcdtSa
– CoinGecko (@coingecko) January 6, 2026
Market cap milestone and what it means
Meanwhile, in another development, market observers also noted that Ethereum has overtaken Netflix to become the 36th largest asset by market capitalization. This title attracts attention. This speaks volumes about the current investor focus on blockchain assets.
But crossing a market capitalization threshold is not a direct reason to buy. Valuation rankings change often and may be driven by price movements that are themselves shaped by flows, news, or macroeconomic changes rather than a change in the underlying business.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
