Ether Outpaced Bitcoin, but Its Market Liquidity Thinner

Ether rose 70% in the third quarter, outpacing bitcoin’s 42% gain. The rally did not bring deeper order books, however. Between July 6 and Sept. 30, ether’s median daily market depth was only 35% to 45% of bitcoin’s, down from at least 60% a year earlier.

That leaves a useful catch behind the headline return. Ether’s price move looked stronger than bitcoin’s, but the market around it had less depth close to the current price. In a thinner order book, the same buying or selling pressure can have a larger effect.

Liquidity Fell Near Ether’s Price

Market depth measures the dollar value of buy and sell orders sitting on exchanges within a set distance of the current price. A smaller figure means there is less visible buying support or selling interest nearby.

CoinGecko found that ether had roughly $13 million to $14 million of order book depth within 0.15% of its market price. It still described ether as fairly liquid at that range. Most exchanges had more than $1 million of depth on each side of the book.

So the problem isn’t that ether has become illiquid. It’s that its relative position against bitcoin has weakened. Ether’s median daily depth was 35% to 45% of bitcoin’s, while the equivalent figure had been at least 60% in the same period last year. CoinGecko called the change a stark drop.

That matters because a rally doesn’t automatically attract more trading. The data contradicts the common idea that rising prices pull in more traders, and more traders produce deeper order books. Ether’s price climbed while its liquidity relative to bitcoin declined.

A Smaller Book Can Make a Move More Fragile

The exact effect depends on where the orders sit and how much buying or selling arrives. A market with less depth can still trade normally, but it may need to move further to absorb a large order.

That makes ether’s relative rally more fragile than the 70% return alone suggests. The price performance was stronger than bitcoin’s, but the support around ether was also thinner.

The data doesn’t show that liquidity weakness caused the rally, or that it will cause a reversal. The research brief provides no analyst view on that question. It does show that a higher price did not come with a deeper market this time.

Solana Lost Depth at a Wider Band

The comparison with other large-cap tokens is more mixed. Solana’s liquidity also weakened, but the decline showed up within a wider 2% band around the market price.

That wider band measures the market’s capacity to absorb larger swings. Solana’s depth within 2% of price fell from about $28 million per side of the order book last year to around $20 million this year, according to CoinGecko. The comparison is not directly equivalent to ether’s 0.15% measure, but it points to less capacity around the market.

XRP held steady at around $30 million in total depth during the study period. Its order books leaned toward buyers, with close to $18 million in bids against $14 million in asks. CoinGecko linked XRP’s smaller depth within 2% of price to SOL trading 25% more on an average day, despite XRP having a market cap about 40% larger than SOL’s.

At publication, the live tickers showed ether at $2,699.50 and bitcoin at $85,558.63. The market had already delivered the quarter’s striking return. The less visible change was how much depth stood behind it.