Ethereum validators’ queue to take profits hits record high after ETH rally to $3,800

Ethereum’s validator exit queue has clocked its highest level in more than a year, with more than 625,000 ETH, worth roughly $2.3 billion, awaiting withdrawal as of Wednesday, according to data from validatorqueue.com.

The uptick in mass exits from Ethereum’s staking began on July 16 when Ether began its price rally to its 2025 high at $3,844. Since April, ETH has surged from a low of $1,500 to nearly $3,800, prompting stakers to lock in profits.

Exit queue wait time reaches 10 days

On-chain analytics show the wait time to exit Ethereum’s validator network has extended to around eight to ten days, the longest since late 2023. As seen on validatorqueue.com, the spike dwarfs previous high points, including a notable withdrawal rush in January 2024.

Validators are Ethereum nodes that lock up ETH and operate specialized software to validate transactions and propose new blocks. In return, they receive rewards in ETH. Still, exiting the validator role involves a queue mechanism designed to maintain network stability.

The latest chart from the analytics platform shows that between July 16 and July 22, the exit queue wait time jumped from under one day to over eight. More than half a million ETH, approximately $1.9 billion at current market prices, was added to the exit queue within just six days.

“When prices go up, people unstake and sell to lock in profits. We’ve seen this pattern for retail and institutional levels through many cycles,” explained Andy Cronk, co-founder of staking service provider Figment.

On the flipside, the entry queue is also on the rise. As of Wednesday, over 359,500 ETH, worth about $1.3 billion at current prices, was lined up to enter the staking network, per validatorqueue.com. That’s resulted in a six-day wait time for new validators attempting to join.

SEC clarity adds to institutional staking demand

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s May guidance stated that Ethereum is not a security because “staking does not constitute a securities offering.” Market analysts believe this helped push Ether to its 62.9% price rise and make it more attractive to traditional financial institutions.

BlackRock, among others, has since added ETH staking language into its applications. At the same time, Joseph Lubin-backed SharpLink Gaming and Thomas Lee-affiliated BitMine Immersion have both launched ETH treasury programs with incentives to generate yield for shareholders.

About 29.4% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply, equivalent to an all-time high of 36.39 million ETH, was locked in staking pools as of Tuesday. The amount surpassed the previous peak of 35 million on June 17.

Data from a Dune Analytics dashboard showed that as of Wednesday, around 237,000 ETH was queued for withdrawal on Lido, the largest liquid staking platform. That withdrawal surge has also contributed to the rising exit times network-wide.

A network observer on X noted that Tron DAO founder Justin Sun withdrew 60,000 ETH from Lido on Friday, and an undisclosed amount from Aave. This, according to head of data at Entropy Advisors Tom Wan, created a “domino effect” that forced others to liquidate looping strategies, recursive borrowing to amplify yield, once profitability diminished.

Justin Sun’s address activity. Source: Arkham Intelligence

“Lenders are stuck in the position for potentially ~18 days as that’s the ETH unstake queue right now. We may end up seeing some stETH liquidations from interest accrual which will only make the situation worse by de-pegging stETH further,” darkpools wrote on X.