Dado Ruvic 2
Ethereum liquidity drops below 50% of Bitcoin’s level
A CoinGecko analysis of eight major exchanges shows Ethereum's market depth has fallen to 35–45% of Bitcoin's, down from over 60% a year ago.
Ethereum’s standing in the liquidity rankings has taken a meaningful hit. A CoinGecko analysis of order-book depth across eight major centralized exchanges shows Ethereum’s median market depth sitting at $13 to $14 million, which puts it at just 35 to 45% of Bitcoin’s liquidity. A year ago, Ethereum was holding above 60% of Bitcoin’s level.
Bitcoin’s order book is doing a lot of heavy lifting
Bitcoin’s median aggregate depth has reached $29 million on the bid side and $37 million on the ask side, roughly 50% higher than the figures recorded in 2025. Order-book depth in this analysis is measured at approximately 0.15% from the mid-price, translating to about $100 on either side for Bitcoin and $3 for Ethereum.
Binance leads liquidity for both assets across the exchanges studied. At the other end of the spectrum, MEXC’s liquidity sits at approximately $450,000, making it a clear outlier in the dataset.
Why the gap widened
The contrast isn’t just that Ethereum got worse. It’s that Bitcoin got substantially better while Ethereum’s liquidity remained roughly flat in absolute terms. That combination mechanically pushes the ratio down.
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Increased institutional interest in Bitcoin, partly channeled through spot exchange-traded products, is one plausible driver of the deeper order books on the Bitcoin side. Ethereum, despite its own spot ETF approvals, has not attracted the same scale of order-book commitment.
What traders and investors should watch
The gap between Ethereum’s liquidity and Bitcoin’s is now wide enough to influence how large trades get structured. Algorithmic traders and institutions that slice orders across venues will need to account for Ethereum’s shallower book, particularly during periods of elevated volatility when spreads tend to widen further.
For context, the Traders Union report covering this data was published on September 30, 2026. The dynamics it captures reflect a market structure that has been shifting steadily rather than breaking in a single moment.