Ethereum’s growth exceeded that of Bitcoin in the third quarter, but its liquidity was significantly narrower than that of Bitcoin

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinGecko report, Ethereum’s native token ETH performed better than Bitcoin in the third quarter, with a price increase of 70%, exceeding Bitcoin’s 42% increase. However, the liquidity of ETH has significantly narrowed relative to Bitcoin during the same period.

Between July 6 and September 30, ETH’s average daily median market depth was only 35% to 45% of Bitcoin’s, compared with at least 60% during the same period last year. Market depth measures the total dollar value of buy and sell orders within a certain range of current prices. ETH’s depth within a 0.15% price range is $13 million to $14 million. CoinGecko said that ETH still maintains good liquidity in this range, with most exchanges having more than $1 million in buying and selling depth on both sides.

The liquidity of other mainstream tokens is also thinning. Solana's SOL depth in the 2% price range fell from about $28 million per side last year to about $20 million this year. Total XRP depth held steady at around $30 million, but the order book was skewed toward the buyers, with buy orders at around $18 million and sell orders at around $14 million. CoinGecko noted that XRP’s market cap is about 40% higher than SOL’s, but the depth within the 2% price range is lower, as SOL’s average daily trading volume is still 25% higher than XRP’s.