What to Know:
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Over 800K ETH is stuck in entry and exit staking queues, with wait times above 14 days.
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Price action stays bullish: ETH up 19.97% in 30 days, now near $4,500.
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Momentum fueled by the Fusaka upgrade, whale buys, and regulatory clarity.
Ethereum’s staking network is under heavy demand, as both the entry and exit queues are growing to levels not seen in more than two years. Reports say that over 800K ETH is waiting to enter and eit staking. Both queues mean that people have to wait about 14 days right now, which shows how busy Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network is right now.
Staking Bottleneck Builds Up
As of this week, the entry queue for new validators had 833,609 ETH, which means that new validators will have to wait about 14 days and 11 hours before they can go live. The exit queue, on the other hand, has grown to 825,453 ETH, and people who want to unstake and withdraw will have to wait 14 days and 8 hours.
This is the most congestion we’ve seen since mid-2022, when Ethereum switched from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. Reports say that the queues are at their highest level in two years, which shows how much interest and churn the network is experiencing.
The Block also discussed the growing exit queue last month, which suggests that some validators are taking their profits or moving their money around even though new validators are rushing to join. The fact that both queues are growing at the same time suggests that the market is changing. Some investors are confident enough to add more ETH to staking, while others are using recent price increases to get out.
Why the Queues Matter
Ethereum’s staking system was set up to protect the network by giving validators who lock up ETH to process transactions a reward. When there are more validators who want to join or leave than the network can handle at once, queues form. Delays are normal, but long wait times can make people angry and unsure of what to do. For new validators, the delay means that their money is stuck and not earning rewards. For those who are leaving, it means that liquidity is locked up for longer than expected.
Ethereum Price Action
Some validators might be unhappy with the staking queue, but Ethereum’s price action looks good. In the last 24 hours, Ethereum went up 1.13%, which is more than Bitcoin’s small 0.09% gain. ETH has gone up 19.97% in the last 30 days, which is a strong sign of momentum. This rally is being driven by three main things:
1. Fusaka Upgrade
Ethereum developers are getting ready for the Fusaka hard fork, which will happen in November 2025. By raising the gas limit from 30M to 150M, this upgrade will greatly increase the network’s capacity. Ethereum’s main chain can handle more than 10,000 transactions per second, and its layer-2 networks can handle more than 1 million transactions per second.
In the last month, the volume of futures trading has gone up by almost 41%. This means that traders are betting that demand will go up after the upgrade.
2. Whale Accumulation
Whales, are buying a lot of ETH. Last week, it was said that one group bought 138,000 ETH for more than $500 million through private deals. On-chain data also shows that wallets with between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH are at their highest level in seven years. This heavy buying lowers the amount of goods available in the market and helps prices rise, especially since there isn’t a lot of money available.
3. Regulatory Scene
The SEC made it official in July 2025 that ETH is not a security. This choice made investors more confident and led to record amounts of money coming into Ethereum ETFs, with $727 million coming in in just one day. But there are still some risks. There could still be some uncertainty because of the CFTC’s case against Tornado Cash and the ongoing debates about staking services.
The Road Ahead
Ethereum is trading close to $4,500 right now, but it is having trouble getting past that level. Traders are keeping an eye on whether ETH can stay above its 30-day moving average of $4,357.
Ethereum’s growing staking queue shows how much trust investors have in the network, even if it means waiting weeks to enter or exit.
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