Ether (ETH) is pulling ahead of bitcoin in a clear rotation, with capital shifting as bitcoin ETFs see outflows and ether funds and prices move higher.
ETH is up about 8% over the past 24 hours versus bitcoin’s roughly 5% gain, according to CoinDesk’s market data, extending its outperformance to about 4 percentage points over the past week and nearly 9 points over the past month.
US spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $325.8 million in net outflows on April 13, led by $229 million from Fidelity’s FBTC and $63 million from ARK’s ARKB, according to SoSoValue data. The pullback marks a clear cooling in what has been bitcoin’s primary source of marginal demand.
Ether ETFs saw modest daily inflows of $7.7 million, while weekly inflows rose to $187 million for the period ending April 10 – the strongest performance in 2026 and a sharp turnaround from three weeks of outflows totaling about $308 million. Cumulative inflows have now reached $11.68 billion.
At the same time, activity on the Ethereum network is accelerating sharply. Daily transactions are up 41% week-on-week to around 3.6 million, with Artemis data showing an almost vertical increase from around 2.5 million on April 10. Among larger chains, only Sonic and TON had larger percentage gains, both from much smaller bases.
However, the quality of this activity is less clear. Stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum has fallen 42.6% over the same period, and fees have fallen nearly 50%, pointing to smaller transaction sizes and easier financial throughput.
Bitcoin, for its part, is holding firm despite the outflows, a sign of underlying spot support even as its dominant ETF bid weakens, according to Glassnode’s latest weekly report.
For now, bitcoin is absorbing ETF outflows without breaking even, a sign of underlying spot strength, even as momentum indicators are flashing overbought. Whether ether’s setup marks the start of a lasting rotation or a short-lived breakout will depend on ETH funds sustaining inflows and bitcoin’s positioning unwinding without a sharp correction.
It also depends on the quality of the activity on the chain. The stablecoin summer of 2025, when USDC and USDT transfer volumes surged and caused Ethereum to record financial throughput, set the benchmark for a fundamental-driven rally that helped push ether toward $4,000.
This week’s data point in the opposite direction. Transactions are up 41%, but stablecoin volume is down 42.6%, signaling more activity with less value behind it. Closing that gap is what would make a rotation something more sustainable.
