The new year has just begun, and the market has already quietly recovered from December's decline. Market sentiment is starting to heat up, but investors are faced with a very practical question: should they continue holding, or look for an opportunity to take profits and secure gains?

From the actions of validators, the answer is already quite clear. Ethereum validator data reveals an interesting signal: the exit queue has plummeted from a peak of 2.6 million to just 15,000, a drop of 99.5%. In other words, almost no one is withdrawing. Although staking yields have fallen back to 2.54%, validators have chosen to hold their positions. This behavior clearly indicates that they are not focused on short-term returns, but on the network’s long-term potential.

On-chain data further confirms this. In the fourth quarter, the transfer volume of stablecoins exceeded $8 trillion, with daily transaction counts surpassing 2 million. Such liquidity levels suggest that network activity remains quite healthy. The active on-chain ecosystem combined with validators’ steadfast holdings suggests, based on historical experience, that this combination often signals a potential upward movement in the first quarter.

Validators are essentially betting on a longer-term story. They are not swayed by short-term fluctuations but are betting on the long-term value of the network.