Ether’s price is currently sliding near a three-year low against Bitcoin, trailing far behind BTC’s performance in 2024. ETH is up just 0.015% from the start of the year, while Bitcoin has soared around 37% this year. With Ethereum at its weakest against Bitcoin, investors may shift their attention to Bitcoin, which could reduce demand for Ethereum in the coming hours, creating negative volatility in the price chart.
Bitcoin Outperforms Ethereum With Impressive Metrics
Ether has fallen 12.5% over the past 30 days, while Bitcoin has fallen just 2% over the same period. Additionally, the ETH/BTC ratio has fallen about 24% over the past three months, hitting a three-year low of 0.0387 on September 16.
The decline in the ETH/BTC ratio reflects weaker demand for Ether, as investors are favoring Bitcoin over ETH.
To provide some context, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have enjoyed greater success since they were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 10, compared to Ethereum spot ETFs.
According to on-chain data provider Glassnode, these investment products have had a smaller impact on Ether’s price (1% of spot volume) than their impact on Bitcoin, which stands at 8%.
Along with Ether’s decline against Bitcoin, ETH has been further impacted by the steady growth in Bitcoin Dominance. Bitcoin’s market dominance continued to increase in 2024, reaching a 40-month high of 58% on August 5. This trend shows that the leading cryptocurrency is consolidating its strength against altcoins, including Ether.
According to data from DAppRadar, the number of active addresses for Ethereum DApps has also dropped by 20% over the past 30 days. This decline is worrying, especially when rival blockchains like Solana and Tron saw their total UAW increase by 257% and 343%, respectively, over the same period.
As Bitcoin continues to dominate, the value of ETH relative to its BTC pair will likely continue to decline. This suggests that investors are more bullish on Bitcoin and may be allocating less capital to Ether.
What Will ETH Price Do Next?
The bulls pushed the price above $2,300, but the correction is facing resistance near the 20-day EMA ($2,351). As a result, the price is facing downside volatility below $2,300. As of press time, ETH is trading at $2,288, down more than 4.7% over the past 24 hours.
If the price remains below $2,300, it would indicate that sellers have the upper hand, which could push the ETH/USDT pair down to $2,100. Buyers may attempt to halt the decline at $2,100, but if this level fails, the pair could drop to the psychological support at $2,000.
For buyers to regain control, they need to push and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA. This could take the pair towards the 50-day SMA ($2,555) and eventually the breakout level of $2,771.