Ether Beat Bitcoin in Q3, but Market Liquidity Thinned

Ether rose faster than bitcoin in the third quarter. Trading Ethereum got harder, though. For anyone buying in size, the difference is easy to feel.

What the CoinGecko report shows

Over the quarter, ether's price jumped 70% while bitcoin added 42%. On paper, ether won on every count. But from July 6 to Sept. 30, its median market depth held at only 35% to 45% of bitcoin's. A year earlier, the figure was at least 60%. CoinGecko called it a stark drop from last year.

Market depth in plain words

It is the sum of all buy and sell orders sitting near the current price. The bigger it is, the more money it takes to move the rate. In a thin market, one large order eats through what is nearby and pushes the price further.

For ether, CoinGecko counted orders within 0.15% of the market price. There were $13 million to $14 million there. That zone matters most for everyday trades and for big orders that need to fill without visibly moving the price.

Is it really that bad

Not quite. In that range ETH stays fairly liquid: most exchanges keep over $1 million of depth on each side, CoinGecko said.

Still, there is another detail. A popular market idea says rising prices pull in traders, and traders make order books deeper. With ether, that did not happen.

Solana and XRP

Solana, ether's main rival, also lost liquidity, though CoinGecko measured it over a wider range. SOL's depth within 2% of the price fell from about $28 million per side last year to around $20 million this year. That zone shows how much buying or selling pressure the market can absorb before a sharp move. Ether's problem sits right next to the price, while SOL's shows up in how well it handles bigger swings.

XRP held steady at about $30 million in total depth. The book leaned toward buyers, with roughly $18 million in bids against $14 million in asks. XRP's market cap is 40% larger than SOL's, yet its depth within 2% is smaller. The reason is volume, since SOL trades 25% more than XRP on an average day.

What a trader can do

Before a big trade, look at the order book, not only the chart. A large amount of ether is better split into parts. And if you plan to sell Ethereum for hryvnia, compare rates at several exchangers and do not take the first one.