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While the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum is still struggling with heightened volatility in the crypto market, the balance of trading activity among the two leading digital assets is quietly shifting. This current pivot is sighted across cryptocurrency exchanges as the number of trades displaying a distinct action.
Amid the ongoing volatile market phase, a growing disparity has been observed among traders of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the largest cryptocurrency assets. In the report from Alphractal, an advanced investment and on-chain data analytics platform, it appears BTC traders are gradually considering ETH.
After examining the action of investors, Alphractal revealed that the number of perpetual market trades completed for BTC across major crypto exchanges has dropped drastically, which indicates a drop in short-term activity. At the same time, the number of trades for ETH has increased as the altcoin grabs a growing share of overall trade flow, signaling renewed involvement from traders and on-chain players.
According to the platform, more trades are now being processed in ETH, putting the altcoin ahead of Bitcoin in terms of traders’ conviction. This difference reveals a shifting market dynamic in which focus and liquidity are slowly shifting from the consolidation phase of Bitcoin to the growing ecosystem and use-driven activities of Ethereum.
It is worth noting that the market experienced the highest number of leveraged trades in the history of BTC between August and November. During the period, over 19 crypto exchanges, including BitMEX and HyperLiquid, recorded up to 80 million trades in a single day, marking their highest level. However, this activity has remarkably decreased, and the 7-day average is now positioned at just 13 million trades. Such a trend implies a drastic contraction in leveraged trading activity.
On the other hand, Ethereum also experienced a surge in 2025, reaching a peak of nearly 50 million trades. What is noteworthy is that the number of recent Ethereum trades is still far higher than that of BTC. Data shows that the 7-day average for ETH is about 17.5 million trades, indicating a clear divergence between the two crypto leaders.
Furthermore, this demonstrates that in the perpetual futures market, BTC and ETH exhibit distinct behavioral patterns. Following the massive liquidation event in October, the market turned extremely cautious toward Bitcoin and leverage itself.
Alphractal noted that the impact of this divergence is evident in the largest Open Interest (OI) drawdown in the history of Bitcoin. In the meantime, the platform believes that Bitcoin is currently in a reset phase. Meanwhile, it will take a long time before conditions go back to normal and institutional and whale interest resumes.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price was trading at $88,875, demonstrating a 1.33% rise in the last 24 hours. Its trading volume has also followed suit, attracting a more than 43% increase over the same time period.
