Major Withdrawals from Binance: What Does It Mean?

On-chain data shows Binance has facilitated withdrawals worth millions in ETH and SOL in the past 24 hours.

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Binance’s holdings have seen a surge in activity recently, particularly with its Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) assets. The largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume has sparked discussions online after users noticed significant activity on Binance’s hot wallet.

In the past few hours, Binance’s hot wallet off-loaded at least 103,570 SOL, equating to $16.32 million based on current market prices. Recently, Solana has decreased by nearly 8%, trading at $157.58, dropping below $160 for the first time since October 2024.

> UPDATE: This post was updated from “selling” to “withdrawing” after further research. The withdrawals may be due to the market maker removing liquidity or buying $SOL from the order books — Solid Intel 📡 (@solidintel_x) February 24, 2025.

Many traders initially assumed these hot wallet activities indicated Binance was selling its holdings via market maker Wintermute. However, an analyst clarified that Wintermute was actually withdrawing millions of SOL from Binance’s holdings.

“As far as I understand it, this actually means that Wintermute is withdrawing SOL from the Binance Hot Wallet account, likely after purchasing it from the order books,” explained Vini Barbosa, Editor for Finbold and AllianceDAO member.

In addition, Binance reportedly sold around 25,000 ETH between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM UTC, with the selling price at approximately $3,200 per ETH, totaling $80 million in Ethereum. These token swaps were primarily directed to Symbolic Capital Partners and Wintermute.

Following these transactions, Ethereum’s price dropped by 3.5% and currently trades at $2,683.

Further commenting on Binance’s activities, account MartyParty stated that Binance was “flushing” TRUMP tokens, claiming the exchange sold 4.7% of $1 billion valued TRUMP holdings. However, it was later revealed that the exchange hadn’t sold any TRUMP tokens; rather, the value of the holdings decreased from $1 billion to about $850 million due to the TRUMP price falling over 7%.

Implications of Binance’s Withdrawals

The recent withdrawals from Binance could indicate high demand for these tokens as major market makers like Wintermute are either withdrawing or staking tokens from Binance’s hot wallet, suggesting the removal of liquidity or purchases from the order books.

Conversely, by parting with these assets, Binance may be rebalancing its portfolio to reduce exposure to volatile tokens, preparing to reallocate funds to more secure assets. Such actions might signal that Binance anticipates market turbulence, potentially affecting liquidity and trading volumes for ETH and SOL, while also helping to mitigate price manipulation risks during high-pressure scenarios.

Furthermore, withdrawing millions in token value from Binance’s active trading environment can decrease liquidity, potentially leading to wider spreads and more considerable price fluctuations, influencing market sentiment and prompting further adjustments among market participants.

Related: Binance to delist AirDAO, Clover and others on Feb. 24.