Ethereum (ETH) gained 18.7% between September 17 and September 23, outpacing Bitcoin (BTC) in weekly gains, with increases in open interest, funding rates, and network growth indicating strong demand for ETH.
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, the price of Ether is up 4% over the past 24 hours, trading at $2,650. In contrast, Bitcoin is up 1.8% over the past 24 hours, trading at $63,678. During the same period, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased by 2%, reaching $2.3 trillion.
ETH bullish vs Bitcoin
Ether has gained 17.5% over the past seven days, outperforming Bitcoin, which has gained 9.8% over the same period.
The ETH/BTC rate also rose by about 7.5% over the past seven days, reaching a three-week high of 0.0424 on September 23.
ETH/BTC ratio. Source: TradingView
The reversal in the ETH/BTC ratio indicates increasing demand for Ether. According to data from Farside Investor, inflows into US-based spot Ethereum ETFs turned positive last week, with small inflows of $5.2 million and $2.9 million on September 19 and September 20, respectively.
However, inflows into Ethereum investment products still lag behind Bitcoin. According to CoinShares, Ether has seen outflows for five consecutive weeks, with a total of $29 million in outflows between September 16 and September 20.
CoinShares Research Director James Butterfill commented:
“This is due to continued outflows from the incumbent Grayscale Trust and minimal inflows from newly issued ETFs.”
Ether’s outperformance is also evidenced by the decline in BTC’s market dominance. The chart below shows that Bitcoin’s dominance has fallen from 58.7% on September 19 to 57.4% on September 23. This shows that the top cryptocurrency is weakening compared to altcoins, including Ether.
Bitcoin market dominance chart. Source: TradingView
As Bitcoin’s dominance continues to decline, market participants expect the value of ETH to continue to rise relative to BTC. This suggests that investors are likely to be more bullish on Ether and allocate more funds to Ethereum investment products.
According to data from Coinglass, the 8-hour Ether open interest weighted funding rate has turned positive since September 16, currently standing at 0.0072%.
Ether OI Weighted Funding Rate. Source: Coinglass
The positive funding ratio for Ethereum reflects increased demand for leveraged long positions, signaling a bullish outlook.
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Ethereum network activity indicates increased demand for ETH.
Analyzing Ethereum’s network activity and scaling solutions is key to understanding what it takes to sustain $2,600 support. Decentralized applications (DApps) are at the heart of this layer 1 blockchain, and the increased use of them on the transaction side is indicative of increased demand for ETH.
According to DappRadar data, the number of unique active wallets for the top Ethereum DApps has decreased by an average of 1.42% over the last 24 hours, while transaction volume has increased by 21.92%.
Blockchain rankings by 24-hour DApp volume. Source: DappRadar
Additionally, the number of DApp transactions on the Ethereum network increased by 6.5% over the same period, driven by growth in Uniswap, Balancer, ParaSwap, and Aave.
Additional data from DefiLlama shows that Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) increased from $44.1 billion to $49.65 billion between September 18 and September 23. An increase in TVL is a sign of increased user interaction with the blockchain, which in turn increases demand for Ether.
Total value locked in Ethereum. Source: DefiLlama
To sustain ETH above $2,600, continued network growth, increased Ether transaction volume, and DApp usage are essential.
This article does not contain any investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading moves involve risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making decisions.