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 market data, extending its outperformance to about 4 percentage points over the past week and nearly 9 points over the past month.
U.S. 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 climbed to $187 million for the period ending April 10 – the strongest showing of 2026 and a sharp reversal from three straight weeks of outflows totaling roughly $308 million. Cumulative inflows have now reached a record $11.68 billion.
At the same time, activity on the Ethereum network is accelerating sharply. Daily transactions have jumped 41% week over week to roughly 3.6 million, with Artemis data showing a near-vertical rise from about 2.5 million on April 10. Among major chains, only Sonic and TON posted larger percentage gains, both from far smaller bases.
The quality of that activity, however, is less clear. Stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum is down 42.6% over the same period and fees have fallen nearly 50%, pointing to smaller transaction sizes and lighter economic 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 most recent weekly report.
For now, bitcoin is absorbing ETF outflows without breaking, a sign of underlying spot strength even as momentum indicators flash overbought. Whether ether’s setup marks the start of a durable rotation or a short-lived burst will depend on $ETH funds sustaining inflows and bitcoin’s positioning unwinding without a sharp correction.
It also hinges on the quality of the activity on chain. The stablecoin summer of 2025, when USDC and USDT transfer volumes surged and drove Ethereum to record economic throughput, set the benchmark for a fundamentally driven rally that helped push ether toward $4,000.
This week’s data points 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 turn a rotation into something more durable.
