Ethereum’s ether (ETH) showed signs of strength over the weekend, briefly igniting investor optimism before ultimately preceding a broader downturn in the crypto market. Despite its initial momentum, the rally quickly faded, mirroring past instances where ETH’s gains foreshadowed an industry-wide slump.
In a quiet trading session due to the U.S. holiday, ether surged by as much as 7% to reach a Monday high of $2,850, outperforming the rest of the market. However, it failed to sustain the momentum, sliding back to $2,730 as Bitcoin (BTC) dropped from just above $97,000 to $95,500. While ETH managed to retain a 2% gain over the last 24 hours, the CoinDesk 20 Index and BTC both registered a 2% decline.
Market participants were quick to recall previous episodes, such as in late January and early February, when an ETH rally preceded a broader crypto selloff. Back then, ether’s rapid 10% climb to $3,400 unraveled in a major capitulation event triggered by trade war concerns, leading BTC to drop 13% and ETH to plunge 35% to nearly $2,000 over a low-volume weekend.
Ether’s recent price movement coincided with volatility in memecoins, particularly Argentina’s LIBRA on Solana and BNB Chain-based BROCCOLI—named after former Binance CEO CZ’s dog—both of which weighed on competing layer-1 tokens.
“ETH’s recent price action isn’t an outperformance—it’s more of a catch-up to where it should be,” said Aran Hawker, CEO of trading automation platform CoinPanel, in a message to CoinDesk. “Some traders may have rotated back into ETH from SOL, but there’s no clear trend shift or structural change. Any perceived outperformance could be erased by the next major market move.”
Joel Kruger, a market strategist at LMAX Group, struck a more optimistic tone, suggesting that ETH might be on the verge of reversing its multi-year downtrend against bitcoin. “There is evidence of ETH potentially wanting to finally put in a major bottom against bitcoin after downtrending since 2021,” Kruger noted in his Monday market update. “We believe it will be important to keep a close eye on the current monthly high in the ETHBTC ratio, with a break back above encouraging the reversal outlook.”
Investor interest in ETH surged on Monday, outpacing BTC in derivatives markets. According to CoinGlass data, open interest for ETH futures jumped 12% to 9.27 million contracts—valued at nearly $2.6 billion—across all exchanges, led by offshore platforms Binance and Gate.io. In contrast, BTC futures open interest grew by only 1%, reflecting shifting market sentiment toward Ethereum amid a volatile trading environment.
By Alejandro Silva Ramírez, Crypto Analyst & Columnist