A closely watched measure of ether’s relative strength to bitcoin has risen to a three-month high, supported by rising network activity and record stable coin inflows on Ethereum.
The ether-to-bitcoin ratio was trading near 0.0313 on Wednesday, up from a 2026 low of around 0.028 in February, but still well below the January 18 high near 0.038. Ether rose 4% over the past seven days to trade near $2,325, outpacing bitcoin’s 3.9% move over the same period.
The ETH/BTC ratio tracks the relative price of ether to bitcoin on crypto exchanges and is one of the most widely followed gauges of risk appetite across the digital asset market.
A rising ratio signals that capital is flowing into the ether and, by extension, riskier parts of the crypto ecosystem. A declining ratio indicates a preference for bitcoin’s relative safety.
The pair peaked above 0.08 in late 2021 before entering an extended decline that accelerated through 2024 and into 2025, dragged down by bitcoin ETF-driven demand, weakening fee income on Ethereum’s base layer following the Dencun upgrade, and a broader rotation away from altcoins.
When ether outperforms bitcoin on risk days instead of just keeping up, it historically suggests that capital is starting to rotate instead of chasing the same trade. The signal is strengthened if ether holds better than bitcoin on the next pullback.
Part of the case for a sustained move rests on Ethereum’s on-chain fundamentals, which have diverged from the token’s low valuation.
New users on the network rose 82% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 to 284,000, according to data from Artemis, while total transactions hit a record 200.4 million for the quarter, up 43% from the previous period.
Stablecoin supply on Ethereum also hit a record high of $180 billion, up 150% over the past three years, as of Token Terminal. The network has about 60% of the global stablecoin market, solidifying its dominance as the primary settlement layer for tokenized dollars and suggesting a long-term demand anchor for ETH, even if short-term price action lags.
However, Ether is still more than 50% below its 52-week high of $4,831 and the ratio will need to regain the 0.035 zone on a weekly close to prove that the recovery has legs beyond a short-squeeze bounce.
