Investors clearly show a strong risk appetite across the board.
For starters, memecoins are driving a lot of this momentum. Top-cap memecoins are posting double-digit weekly gains.
At first glance, this raises an obvious question: are investors just looking for speculation?
However, when we shift the focus to Ethereum [ETH]begins to weaken that story. Statistics on the chain instead point to a supply shock, highlighted by BitMine’s to expand of 771k ETH in the last two weeks.
Source: CoinGlass
In short, capital turns into belief-driven assets rather than pure “hype” transactions. This rotation is starting to become particularly visible in the price.
Because ETH has outperformed BTC by two times, representing a 9.3% increase in just one week through 2026.
On a quarterly basis this produces a clear difference.
For context: Bitcoin since 2022 [BTC] has consistently outperformed ETH in the first quarter, with stronger rallies and shallower pullbacks. But as the Ethereum supply shock mounts, will this cycle finally break the trend?
From Q1 Loss to Early Lead – Ethereum vs. Bitcoin in 2026
Ethereums Roadmap 2026 is clearly aimed at developers.
From RWA tokenizations to DeFi, the network is expanding its institutional footprint and increasing L1 competitiveness. Looking to 2025, it laid a solid foundation to scale up adoption and attract more institutional activity by 2026.
It is striking that the impact is now also visible in the chain.
Ethereum delivery is locked. At the time of writing, there was 1.32 million ETH waiting to be staked, while only 3k was queued to exit. For the first time in six months, entry exceeds exit.
Source: TradingView (ETH/BTC)
In this context, the fact that ETH/BTC has rallied almost 4% year to date is no coincidence.
Instead, it could be the start of a bigger move. With tighter supply, solid fundamentals and a growing L1 footprint, long-term conviction in Ethereum is evident investors are clearly committed for the cycle.
This creates a strong divergence in 2026.
ETH’s two times larger move than BTC so far is just the beginning, and if momentum continues, this cycle could finally flip the script, with ETH delivering a higher ROI than BTC by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Final thoughts
- On-chain stats show 1.32 million ETH lined up to stake, versus just 3k being abandoned, indicating strong capital rotation into Ethereum due to hype trades.
- ETH has outperformed BTC 2× YTD. If momentum continues, this cycle could break historical patterns, with ETH delivering a higher ROI than BTC by the end of the first quarter.