The cryptocurrency market was witnessing divergent results between the two largest assets, Bitcoins (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). While Bitcoin has shown signs of recovery, gaining 3.8% in the last two weeks and recovering the price level of USD 85,000, Ethereum tries to keep up.
ETH remains below the $ 2000 USD, which fell below last week, currently trads slightly above $ 1,800. The divergence of performance between Bitcoins and Ethereum has drew the attention of analysts, especially about the decreasing strength of Ethereum towards Bitcoins on the derivative instrument market.
Ethereum decrease towards bitcoins: key market trends
Cryptoquant analyst recently Sunflowrquant analyzed ETH/BTC market trends, noticing that Ethereum has weakened against Bitcoin over the past two years, reflecting the decrease in investors’ trust and reduced speculative interest in ETH derivatives.
According to Sunflowrquant, in the period 2021-2022, Ethereum exceeded bitcoins, signaling forceful market interest and growing activity in derivatives based on Ethereum at that time.
However, since then, both ETH/BTC and open interest have dropped, which suggests that Ethereum loses a base against Bitcoin in terms of market dominance.
Until March 2025, the Open Futures ETH percentage indicator dropped to 0.15, while the ETH/BTC price indicator dropped to 0.02. This indicates that the bears in Ethereum still dominate the market, because traders and investors focus on bitcoins.
Falling open interest in Ethereum Perpetual Futures Contracts further strengthens the idea that traders show less speculative interest of ETH compared to BTC.
What does this mean for the future ETH
Despite the worse results of ETH, Sunflowrquant suggests that his current weakness can also reflect wider fear and market uncertainty. The analyst indicates that cryptographic markets are often driven by emotions, and when the mood reaches an extremely low level, there may be a quick recovery.
Such conditions of low credibility can lead to unexpected price movements, creating the possibility of regaining strength in ETH/BTC. Historically, periods of forceful revival took place after the market slowdown, and the basics of Ethereum remain intact. The analyst wrote:
Emotional fluctuations and fear on the market can lead investors to cautious and strategic action. We can be on the basics of recent beginnings for Ethereum; As in previous cycles, a forceful reflection may occur after arduous times, achieving recent ups.
If the trust of investors returns, ETH may potentially reverse his trend, as well as action against Bitcoin in 2021-2022. However, this will probably depend on the broader market dynamics, including institutional party, updating the ETH network and Bitcoin prices stability. Sunflowrquant summarized:
Looking at price fluctuations at Ethereum, it can now be the perfect time to be part of this transformation process. We are at the bottom of potential recent beginnings and ETH capabilities.
A distinguished picture created from Dall = E, chart from TradingView
