- Ethereum prices soared even though Bitcoin lacked the demand from ETFs.
- Profit-taking activities could begin once ETH crosses $4,000, according to the age consumption metric.
Bitcoin [BTC] and ether [ETH] accumulation addresses amounted to 171% and 80% unrealized gain respectively, according to data provided by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Over the past three months, Bitcoin has seen huge institutional demand thanks to ETFs. Even though Ethereum doesn’t have ETFs, there was still strong demand.
Bitcoin witnessed a faster accumulation rate than Ethereum
Source: CryptoQuant
Inflows into accumulation addresses, in USD terms, have increased rapidly for Bitcoin in 2024. The ETF approval in January had a huge impact on this metric.
Meanwhile, Ethereum failed to match the pace of demand for Bitcoin.
Source: CryptoQuant
Likewise, whale addresses containing Bitcoin saw a sharp upward trend since 2021. This will only accelerate in 2024. Meanwhile, Ethereum saw a more steady uptrend since 2021 with no sudden accelerations.
Even without institutional demand to the same extent as Bitcoin, Ethereum was able to hold its own in terms of demand and popularity. It underlined that whales still see the largest altcoin as a safe alternative to Bitcoin.
Source: CryptoQuant
The realized price refers to the price of the Bitcoin or Ethereum at which it last moved on average. The accumulation addresses were 92.5% unrealized gains on Bitcoin and 183% unrealized gains for Ethereum.
This highlighted a particularly bullish case for Ethereum. Demand on the scale Bitcoin is now witnessing could push ETH prices into the stratosphere, which should make investors jump for joy.
Examining the accumulation trends within the network
AMBCrypto looked at the broader BTC and ETH network activity to contrast CryptoQuant’s plunge into accumulation addresses. Santiment’s data above showed that ETH’s daily active addresses since early February were about half that of Bitcoin.
Ethereum’s age consumption metric saw a huge spike on March 11 as prices burst past the psychological resistance of $4,000. This pointed to profit taking.
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On the other hand, ETH’s average coin age has increased over the past four months. In contrast, Bitcoin’s average coin age has fallen since the second half of February.
This once again suggested that holders were making gains on BTC, while they were mostly happy to see Ethereum soar higher. Despite this inference, the large age-related increase warranted some caution among investors.