Ether (ETH) Finally Shows Signs of Life, But Can It Reclaim Its Former Glory?

Ether has spent most of 2024 trailing far behind its peers. While bitcoin and solana hit new all-time highs this cycle—$99,655 for bitcoin and $263 for solana—ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, has remained stuck in their shadows.

Ether has lagged behind its peers for most of 2024, but the token is finally showing signs of life.

While bitcoin and solana hit new all-time highs this cycle ($99,655 for bitcoin and $263 for solana), ether (ETH) has remained stuck in their shadows.

Trading at around $3,600 at press time, ether is still down 26% from its November 2021 peak of $4,891. Even in terms of market dominance, ether has struggled, going from commanding over 20% of the total crypto market cap in 2021 to just 13% today.

But over the past week, ether is finally showing signs of life. The ETH/BTC ratio — a metric that compares ether’s performance to bitcoin (BTC) — jumped 19%, marking its strongest weekly performance in months.

The surge is notable not just for its size but for what it represents: a potential shift in sentiment toward Ethereum, which many had written off for this year.

“A consensus is starting to form among smart money that ETH/BTC has bottomed and will perform well in Q1 [2025],” macro and crypto trader Alex Krüger noted on Monday.

“There could be a gradual rotation from BTC to ETH and other alts if BTC keeps rejecting 100k,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital said in a market note on Nov. 25. “In fact we are already starting to see this play out as BTC dominance dropped from 62% to 59% over the past week.”

This comes as inflows into spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hit new highs. Over the past three days, spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $133 million, with total assets under management crossing $10 billion for the first time, according to data from SoSoValue.

Yesterday alone, the spot Ethereum ETFs pulled in $90 million — almost matching the $103 million in inflows to Bitcoin ETFs.

Earlier in the year, bitcoin-focused ETFs dominated investor attention. But now, monthly spot Ethereum ETF inflows have reached $745 million, making November the most successful month for spot ether ETFs on record, per SoSoValue.

“The strong performance of ETH/BTC in the past week is likely due to a combination of factors, including the recent strength in ether prices and the launch of spot Ethereum ETFs,” Jay Su, CEO of crypto market data firm Chainnode, told Blockworks.

“Traders may now be seeing the ETH/BTC ratio’s low levels as an opportunity, especially after months of ether underperforming bitcoin,” Su added.

Despite this week’s rally, ether is still a long way from its former glory. The ETH/BTC ratio now sits at 0.038, far below its 2017 peak of 0.08. To reach that high again, ether would need to climb another 130% against bitcoin, which would push ether’s price to around $8,300 — an ambitious leap by any measure.

Meanwhile, ether’s supply growth has also raised concerns among some analysts. The token’s issuance rate has surged since the launch of spot ether ETFs and the burning mechanism introduced by the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 has failed to keep pace.

“The launch of spot ether ETFs has caused ether to become inflationary again,” said Su. “This is because the burning mechanism introduced by EIP-1559 is not keeping up with the issuance rate of ether.”

“If ether’s supply continues to grow at this rate, it could put downward pressure on ether prices in the long term,” he added.