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Trader focus is shifting, causing one of the rare occasions when Ethereum futures activity outpaces $BTC. The trade signals a shift in sentiment, breaking the streak of $ETH being considered an underperforming asset.
Trader focus is shifting toward Ethereum, as $ETH futures volumes overtook Bitcoin. $BTC returned to its spot as the leader soon after, but the increased trading signals a shift for $ETH sentiment and a possible trader rotation.
#Ethereum just flipped #Bitcoin in 24h futures volume: $62.1B vs $61.7B!
That’s rare – and it signals a potential rotation in trader focus and positioning ahead of possible $ETH-specific catalysts. pic.twitter.com/34XlbZgimQ— glassnode (@glassnode) July 10, 2025
Based on Glassnode data, $ETH futures expanded to $62.1B for 24-hour volumes, while $BTC achieved $61.7B. $ETH volumes soon slowed down to $61.7B for the day, still close behind $BTC. Liquidations were also more active for Ethereum based on the current trader positioning.
Spot volumes for $ETH are at around $28B per day, with $40B for $BTC. The leading coin still dominates the market, with over $34B in open interest and around $18B for $ETH. While $BTC open interest remained largely unchanged, $ETH positions nearly doubled from recent lows, showing traders have not capitulated.
$ETH recovers $2,800, still unable to make a bigger move
The next step for Ethereum may include factors specific to the chain, especially DeFi growth and stablecoin traffic. For now, $ETH managed to break above $2,800, but is yet to show additional strength to recover above $3,000.
$ETH traded at $2,777.40, after taking a step backward. In the past week, $ETH recovered against $BTC, rising to 0.025 $BTC. However, for the year to date, $ETH lost 29% of its value against $BTC.
A shift in sentiment may anticipate a trend reversal, where $ETH activity increases to tap a more dramatic price move. One of the potential scenarios includes gaining against $BTC, or a hike to the $3,000 or $4,000 level.
However, $ETH currently sees most of its derivative liquidity in long positions, starting at around $2,600. The recent rally may reverse to liquidate those positions. Based on trader positioning on Binance, $ETH has mostly finished liquidating the long positions.
In the past 24 hours, traders were liquidated for $157.9M in short positions. Following the large daily liquidation event, traders turned to attacking long positions.
Ethereum may see renewed buying pressure
Until recently, $ETH fell due to combined selling pressure from whales and from the reserves of Grayscale. Recently, Grayscale started re-accumulating $ETH, along with other funds.
$ETH is also accumulating in whale wallets with 10,000 or more tokens. Mega-whale wallets now hold over 41M $ETH, after months of slow and mostly invisible accumulation. Around 30% of the $ETH supply is staked in the Beacon Chain contract.
Ethereum is also getting accumulated in corporate treasuries, following a similar path to $BTC. In any case, $ETH is seen as valuable and as the central chain for decentralized finance and stablecoins.
The expectations for an $ETH rally may also reawaken altcoins, leading to a breakout season in the second half of 2025.
The Ethereum narrative is also abandoning the recent capitulation and the expectations that the chain will be useless and abandoned. Ethereum remains a DeFi lending leader, compensating for the loss of meme tokens, gaming tokens and other Web3 trends from the 2021 bull market.