Ethereum’s native currency, ether (ETH), performed better than bitcoin (BTC) throughout the third quarter. Even so, trading became more difficult because liquidity—representing the ease of buying and selling a digital asset without causing price fluctuations—decreased.
During the quarter, ether’s valuation leaped by 70%, surpassing bitcoin’s increase of 42%. Nevertheless, from July 6 through September 30, its median daily market depth amounted to only 35% to 45% of bitcoin’s levels, according to data from CoinGecko. Throughout that same timeframe in the previous year, the figure sat at a minimum of 60%. CoinGecko characterized the situation as a sharp decline compared to historical metrics.
Market depth serves as the standard metric for evaluating liquidity. It calculates the cumulative fiat or dollar value of purchase and sale orders placed on trading platforms within a specific percentage threshold of the prevailing market price. Deeper markets require larger sums of capital to induce price movement. Conversely, in a shallow market, a substantial transaction quickly exhausts existing orders and drives the price further.
Ether demonstrated between $13 million and $14 million in depth situated within 0.15% of its ongoing market valuation. To put it simply, this figure represents the capital residing in orders close enough to the trading price where fulfillment would shift ether’s value by a mere 0.15%. Depth operating in such close proximity to the price is critical for routine transactions as well as large block orders that market participants want executed without disturbing the wider market.
This information challenges a common market assumption suggesting that appreciating prices attract additional traders, which in turn leads to thicker order books. That phenomenon failed to materialize for ether.
Despite this, ether remains reasonably straightforward to trade.
CoinGecko noted that ETH continues to be fairly liquid within this band, sitting at less than 0.15% from the market rate, with most platforms sustaining over $1 million in depth across both sides.
Furthermore, ether is not the sole prominent asset experiencing reduced market depth.
Liquidity for Solana’s SOL token, which stands as ether’s primary competitor, has likewise contracted, although CoinGecko evaluated it across a broader threshold. The organization stated that overall liquidity for SOL has dropped significantly starting from 2025.
Solana’s depth within 2% of the market rate dropped from approximately $28 million on either side of the order book last year down to about $20 million in the current year. Depth measured at 2% indicates the amount of capital positioned in orders located further away from the current rate. It acts as an indicator of how much buying or selling pressure an asset can absorb prior to undergoing a major price swing, typical of rapid bull runs or sell-offs. Therefore, whereas ether’s contraction is visible directly adjacent to the price, Solana’s reduction appears in its capacity to manage broader fluctuations.
XRP, the cryptocurrency centered around payments, maintained stability close to $30 million in aggregate depth. However, its order books tilted in favor of buyers over the evaluation window, registering nearly $18 million in bids compared to $14 million in asks.
XRP’s market capitalization exceeds Solana’s by roughly 40%, yet it exhibits lower depth inside the 2% price boundary. CoinGecko explained that this occurs because Solana still records a 25% higher trading volume than XRP on a typical day.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/05/ether-s-bitcoin-beating-q3-rally-came-with-a-catch-liquidity-thinned.
