Wintermute Transfers $160M in ETH as Ethereum Faces Key Resistance

TL;DR:

• Institutional deposit: Algorithmic market maker Wintermute moved 61,847 ETH (approximately $160.3 million) from its active wallet to Binance and Coinbase on September 11, 2026.
• Mass liquidations: Derivatives records showed $758.02 million in forced liquidations over 24 hours across the broader market, with Ether leading liquidations at $307.48 million.
• Price rejection: The price touched an intraday peak of $2,667 fueled by US CPI data before retracing toward the $2,540 range.

This Friday, algorithmic trading firm Wintermute deposited $160.3 million worth of ETH into centralized platforms Binance and Coinbase, triggering marked volatility in Ethereum that coincided with a pause in the asset’s upward momentum.

Lookonchain detected the transfer at 16:14:47 GMT, detailing that the London-based firm moved 61,847 ETH from its active wallet 0xf81..73AA over a three-hour span. Subsequently, onchain intelligence platform Arkham confirmed the ownership of the addresses involved in the flow.

Wintermute is dumping $ETH!

Over the past 3 hours, #Wintermute has deposited 61,847 $ETH ($160.3M) into #Binance and #Coinbase.https://t.co/SNTl47HxlG pic.twitter.com/dpRixozxzD

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 11, 2026

In the spot market, Ether’s price opened the session near $2,437. Following the release of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August 2026—which came in below consensus estimates—the asset climbed more than 5% to tap an intraday high of $2,667.

Market data from CoinGecko later placed the quote at $2,539.51 at 20:12 UTC, maintaining a 3.2% gain over 24 hours and a market capitalization of $310.004 billion.

Transferring tokens to centralized exchanges is typically associated with inventory rotation, private OTC settlements, or derivatives hedging. According to market analysts, this spot inventory transfer could increase available sell pressure across deep order books, though it does not necessarily represent an immediate spot sale.

Impact on derivatives and liquidation heatmaps

The price action triggered substantial disruption across the perpetual futures market. Data from monitoring platform CoinGlass reported that 103,515 traders were liquidated across the global market over the last 24 hours, totaling $758.02 million in forced closures.

Within that figure, short positions accounted for $411.79 million, while long positions totaled $346.22 million.

The session’s largest single liquidation occurred on the decentralized perpetual platform Hyperliquid, involving an ETH-USD position valued at $20.28 million.

Across a four-hour window coinciding with Wintermute’s transfers, liquidation dynamics reversed. CoinGlass data indicates that 92% of forced closures affected long positions, totaling $126.99 million during that specific timeframe compared to just $10.23 million in shorts.

The technical setup highlights two distinct high-density liquidity zones. Based on CoinGlass distribution metrics, a drop below $2,417 would expose roughly $1.123 billion in long positions to forced liquidation, whereas a breakout above $2,669 would trigger an estimated $844 million in short liquidations.

Traders are now turning their attention to the upcoming Asian market open and the subsequent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for September 16, 2026, which will set the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rates.