Almost 70 percent of Ethereum addresses were at a loss in October 2019

Editor’s note (Nov. 1, 2026): The three historical IntoTheBlock charts accompanying this report could not be recovered. This version retains the headline statistic as dated reporting, removes the detailed chart-dependent price bands and break-even estimates, and does not reproduce the missing charts.

When this article was published on Oct. 28, 2019, CryptoSlate reported that nearly 70 percent of Ethereum addresses were holding ETH at a loss, citing IntoTheBlock data. The article argued that holders seeking to recover their purchase costs could create selling pressure as prices recovered.

The analysis reported that approximately 68 percent of Ethereum addresses were “out of the money,” according to crypto analytics platform IntoTheBlock. That meant their average purchase price exceeded ETH’s then spot price of $187.

The same 2019 analysis reported that 76.7 percent of Bitcoin addresses were in profit following its recent rally. These were historical observations, not current market readings.

Long-term holding and DeFi

The original report also described growth in the number of addresses holding ETH for at least 12 months. Its supporting chart is no longer available, so the monthly series and any claim of an all-time high could not be rechecked. As reported previously by CryptoSlate, the amount of ETH locked up in DeFi (decentralized finance) recently hit an all-time high, while the narrative of Ethereum as the most sound form of money appears to have been strengthening.