Ethereum’s staking participation has surged to a new all-time high, reaching roughly 36.3% to 36.5% of the circulating supply, even as ETH trades near the $1,900 to $2,000 range. According to data cited from Token Terminal, the staking rate climbed from 32.4% set in June 2026 to 36.3% by November 2026, a jump of nearly four percentage points in just five months while the broader market was falling.
Staking is more than a yield strategy: validators lock up ETH to verify transactions, propose blocks, and secure Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network. The more ETH is staked, the costlier a network attack becomes. It also removes coins from the immediately tradable supply, since staked ETH cannot be sold instantly. With more than one-third of supply now committed, a large share of ether is effectively unavailable to short-term traders.
The demand to stake is still growing. Reports indicate that about 2.42 million ETH is waiting in the validator entry queue, with an estimated wait time of around 42 days. The exit queue is at zero, meaning far more ETH is trying to enter staking than leave. This is a dramatic reversal from late 2025, when the exit backlog peaked near 2.67 million ETH before collapsing to almost nothing by January 2026. The network currently counts roughly 897,000 active validators, earning an annual staking rate of about 2.6%.
Much of the growth has come from large players. Ethereum treasury firm BitMine has steadily added to its staked position, while staking features in spot Ether ETFs have allowed traditional investors to earn yield on their holdings. Grayscale and BitMine were among the institutions driving staking to record levels earlier in 2026. Analysts at XWIN Research Japan, writing on CryptoQuant, noted that Ethereum staking levels continued to climb even during the sharp corrections of 2022 and 2023.
The contrast with price is striking. ETH is trading near $2,000, down roughly 18% over the past month. Bitcoin’s drop below $70,000 and outflows from spot Ether ETFs have weighed on the entire market. But staking tells a different story: while short-term traders exit, long-term holders are locking up more ETH than ever. That gap between price and network commitment is exactly what some investors watch for, as supply tightens quietly underneath a weak chart. If demand returns, a smaller pool of liquid ETH could amplify the move higher.
