Key Points
- Ethereum prices surged despite the absence of ETF demand that Bitcoin enjoys.
- Profit-taking activities may occur as ETH surpasses $4k, based on the age-consumed metric.
Ethereum prices have experienced a significant rise, even without the ETF demand that Bitcoin benefits from. The age-consumed metric suggests that as Ethereum (ETH) crosses the $4k mark, profit-taking could begin.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju shared data, formerly on Twitter, indicating that accumulation addresses for Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] were at 171% and 80% unrealized profit respectively.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Demand
In the last quarter, Bitcoin saw huge institutional demand due to the ETFs. Despite the absence of ETFs, Ethereum still witnessed strong demand. Bitcoin’s inflows to accumulation addresses, in USD terms, have been rapidly increasing since 2024. The ETF approval in January significantly influenced this metric. However, Ethereum could not keep up with Bitcoin’s demand pace.
Whale addresses holding Bitcoin have been on a steep uptrend since 2021, and this trend has accelerated even more in 2024. On the other hand, Ethereum has seen a steady uptrend since 2021, without sudden bursts of acceleration.
Despite not having the same level of institutional demand as Bitcoin, Ethereum managed to maintain its demand and popularity. This suggests that whales view the largest altcoin as a safe alternative to Bitcoin.
The Bullish Case for Ethereum
The realized price refers to the price of Bitcoin or Ethereum at which they were last moved on average. The accumulation addresses were at 92.5% unrealized profits on Bitcoin, and 183% unrealized profits for Ethereum. This paints an especially bullish picture for Ethereum. The scale of demand that Bitcoin is experiencing could potentially drive ETH prices sky-high.
Data from Santiment showed that the daily active addresses of ETH were about half that of Bitcoin since early February. The Ethereum age-consumed metric saw a significant spike on the 11th of March when the prices exceeded the $4k psychological resistance. This suggests potential profit-taking activity.
The mean coin age of ETH has been on an upward trend over the past four months. In contrast, Bitcoin’s mean coin age has been decreasing since the second half of February. This implies that holders were booking profits on BTC, while they were mostly content to let Ethereum rise further. Despite this, the large age-consumed surge calls for investor caution.
