Traders' attention is gradually shifting towards Ethereum, marking one of the rare moments when the trading volume of ETH futures surpasses that of 'big brother' Bitcoin. This development shows a clear change in market sentiment, as ETH gradually sheds its label as a 'poor-performing asset.'
According to data from Glassnode, within 24 hours, the trading volume of ETH futures surged to $62.1 billion, higher than the $61.7 billion of BTC. Although shortly after, BTC quickly regained its leading position, the signals from the market were clear: Ethereum is gradually becoming the new focus of speculative money flow. The liquidations that have occurred recently also indicate significantly more active trading with ETH compared to BTC.
In spot trading, ETH is recording a volume of about $28 billion per day – still lower than Bitcoin's $40 billion. Although Bitcoin still dominates the market with an open interest (OI) value set at $34 billion, ETH is gradually narrowing the gap with nearly $18 billion. Notably, while BTC's OI has remained relatively unchanged, ETH's OI volume has doubled since its last low, indicating that traders have not given up.
ETH has reclaimed the $2,800 mark but has not yet broken through.
The next momentum for Ethereum may come from internal factors such as the development of DeFi or growth in stablecoin volume. Currently, ETH has returned above the $2,800 mark but is still not strong enough to surpass the important milestone of $3,000.
At the time of writing, ETH is fluctuating around the $2,970 mark after rising nearly 8% in the past 24 hours. Over the past week, ETH has significantly recovered compared to BTC, with the ETH/BTC ratio increasing to 0.025 BTC. However, since the beginning of the year, ETH has lost 29% of its value relative to BTC.
The shift in market sentiment may be an early sign of a reversal trend, where ETH grows stronger and could aim for milestones like $3,000 or even $4,000. However, most of the derivative liquidity for ETH still leans towards Long positions, particularly around the $2,600 region. Therefore, the possibility of a price pullback to liquidate these positions cannot be ruled out.
According to data from Binance, most large Long positions have been liquidated. In the past 24 hours, the market has witnessed $157.9 million in liquidations across Short positions, and shortly after, a trend of counter-attacking Long positions began to emerge.
Whales are accumulating again; could ETH ride a new wave of growth?
Recently, ETH has been under selling pressure from both whale wallets and Grayscale's liquidation activities. However, Grayscale has now returned to accumulate ETH along with several other large funds.
The number of ETH held in whale wallets of 10,000 ETH or more is also increasing – the 'super whale' wallet group currently holds over 41 million ETH, marking a silent but steady accumulation process over several months. Currently, about 30% of the total ETH supply is locked in the Beacon Chain contract, reflecting a high level of trust in the network.
Additionally, Ethereum is gradually appearing in the digital asset reserves of companies, similar to how Bitcoin has done in recent years. As the 'backbone' of the DeFi and stablecoin ecosystem, ETH is still regarded as a valuable long-term foundational asset.
Analysts believe that a strong price surge of ETH could act as a catalyst to awaken the entire altcoin market, opening a new growth season in the second half of 2025.
Finally, the story surrounding Ethereum is gradually changing. Previous negative assessments that this network would 'die young' due to memecoins and NFT games are no longer relevant. Ethereum remains the leading DeFi lending platform and is regaining its position thanks to a stable recovery process and positive cash flow.