Ethereum vs. Bitcoin Futures Volume Ratio Nears Equilibrium
Date: 2025-07-02 Author: Henry Casey Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
For much of 2024, sentiment around Ethereum remained pessimistic, as evidenced by declining trading volumes compared to Bitcoin. The low point was recorded in October last year, when the ratio reached only 42%. At that time, interest in Ethereum was declining due to a number of factors, including high transaction costs on the underlying blockchain, increased competition from faster Layer 1 (L1) networks, and the lesser popularity of ETH spot ETFs in the US compared to Bitcoin products.
However, this is now changing. The resurgence of interest in Ethereum is due to the active development of second-layer (L2) networks, which provide significantly lower fees and increased transaction speeds compared to the main blockchain. In addition, activity in DeFi protocols is increasing, which also supports the Ethereum ecosystem.
The emergence of new crypto ETFs based on Solana and XRP adds an element of competition to the derivatives market. While these tokens may attract some speculative interest, Ethereum’s established infrastructure and large developer community remain a strong advantage for maintaining ETH’s share in institutional investing.
In the US, there are currently nine Ethereum spot ETFs listed on exchanges such as Nasdaq, NYSE, and CBOE. The SEC approved these products in the summer of 2024, and since then they have attracted investments of about $4.2 billion, with assets under management of more than $10 billion, which is about 3.4% of the market cap of Ethereum.
Among the largest funds are ETHA from investment giant BlackRock with attracted funds of $5.5 billion and assets of about $4.4 billion, and FETH from Fidelity with an inflow of over $1.6 billion and assets of $1.25 billion.
At the end of June, the crypto exchange Deribit expiration of almost 940 thousand Ethereum contracts with a total notional value of $2.29 billion was carried out - this is a record for ETH derivatives. At the same time, the put/call ratio was 0.52, and the maximum pain level was recorded at $2,200.
Thus, against the backdrop of market revival and increased activity in the Ethereum ecosystem, we can expect further strengthening of ETH positions, which is reflected in the change in the balance of futures volumes and the growing interest of institutional investors.
