Ethereum’s share of the total crypto market cap has surpassed 20% for the first time since May 2022 after several weeks of outperforming BTC, a new analysis has shown.
At the same time, the open interest in Ether options has reached a new all-time high, overtaking the BTC options open interest for the first time in history as Ethereum nears its merge date.
The current open interest in Ether options is at an all-time high of $8.1 billion, substantially higher than open interest in BTC options currently at $5.5 billion.
The analysis by Arcane Research tracked a variety of crypto indicators and data points in the week between August 9 and August 16, 2022.
In what was the 32nd week in 2022, the analysis shows that recent Ether strength has led ETHBTC, the ratio of the ETH price to BTC price, to climb towards levels last witnessed in 2021.
Based on the ratio, we can see the dominance of ETH when compared to BTC over the last 5 years.
Nonetheless, the world’s first cryptocurrency is also performing upwards. However ‘pushing higher lows and higher highs, with a brief visit above $25K as the trading range narrows.’
BTC keeps showing strength, attempting to break its crucial resistance level of $25K. The cryptocurrency is up 1% over the seven-day period and had consolidated in the $23K to $25K area.
On its part, ETH increased by 7% over the seven-day analysis period, and similar to BTC, has been challenging a key resistance level at $2K. The researchers predict that the upcoming merge has led to elevated trading activity for ETH, especially in the options market, where the open interest surpassed BTC’s for the first time in history.
In fact, the research says the open interest in Ether options has now pushed to a new all-time high of $8.1 billion, substantially higher than the current open interest in BTC options of $5.5 billion.
“After several weeks of outperformance, Ethereum’s market share has increased from a bottom of 14.3% in the middle of June 2022 to 20.1% now. BTC’s market share plummeted from 47.5% to 40.1% during the same period.
It’s evident that traders favor ETH over BTC right now.”
– Arcane Research
Here are further stats from the research:
- Recent Ether strength has led ETHBTC to climb towards its 2021 highs – The Merge has been a strong narrative, leading ETH to outperform BTC significantly since the middle of July. Relative to BTC, ETH currently trades near the 2021 highs
- Bitcoin remains in an uptrend, pushing higher lows and higher highs, seeing a brief visit above $25k, as the trading range narrows
- Bitcoin market share plummeted by 7% to 40% from mid-June 2022
- Ethereum’s share of the total crypto market cap surpasses 20% for the first time since May 2022 – a 7% increase since mid-June 2022
- 59% of the total value locked in DeFi is on Ethereum
- Binance’s basis has seen the most substantial decline falling from 2.9% to 1.9% over the last seven days – The low basis is coupled with muted trading volumes. Last week, the 7-day average trading volume in BTC futures reached its lowest level since December 2020
- The open interest in Ether options has reached a new all-time high, overtaking the BTC options open interest for the first time in history
- Public miners continue to dump their bitcoin holdings – July 2022 was the second-highst BTC selling month in 2022, which equates to 158% of their bitcoin production in July 2022
At the moment, 59% of the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is held on Ethereum, which was found to be an indication that DeFi participants are confident in the success of the upcoming Merge. Ethereum also keeps stealing market share from other smart contract platforms in terms of total value locked on DeFi applications.
Outside of the leading cryptocurrencies, crypto market sentiment is currently at a 4-month high, and traders are increasingly comfortable getting exposure to smaller coins.
Meme coins have been making a comeback, with Shiba Inu and Dogecoin surging by 33% and 26% over the past seven days.
Overall, its clear that traders want exposure to ETH as we’re approximately about a month away from the Merge date.
