- Long-term ETH holders were more bullish than their BTC peers.
- ETH/BTC was at a crucial point, but a strong recovery had yet to occur.
Ethereums [ETH] long-term holders (LTH) have shown more bullish beliefs than their Bitcoin [BTC] counterparts.
Analytics firm IntoTheBock showed that the market shift began in early 2024 and intensified in 2025 as the ETH LTH cohort expanded ownership and dominance to nearly 75%.
On the contrary, the BTC LTH cohort has ruthlessly liquidated their assets, dropping their dominance below 60%. The company declared,
“Currently, 74.7% of Ethereum addresses are long-term holders, which is significantly better than Bitcoin. This trend will likely continue until Ethereum approaches its all-time high and holders start taking profits.”
Source: IntoTheBlock
Will ETH gain ground in the first quarter?
The update is not surprising as ETH’s price performance has lagged behind BTC’s since early 2024. BTC surpassed its previous cycle high and reached the high of $108,000, making almost every holder profitable.
ETH has never achieved such a feat. So, most ETH bulls may be holding it in anticipation of a future rally to make a profit or break even on their investments.
Institutional demand for ETH and BTC was somewhat distorted in the new year. According to data from Soso Value, ETH ETFs are on track to end their second week of outflows. This contrasts with demand in November, when products recorded five consecutive weeks of inflows.
Source: SoSo value
BTC, on the other hand, saw net inflows over the past two weeks. If this institutional demand trend continues, BTC could outperform ETH on the price charts.
However, another indicator, the ETH/BTC ratio, showed a potential pivot for ETH. This indicator tracks the relative price performance of ETH versus BTC. It fell to a four-year low of 0.30, underscoring ETH’s underperformance over that period.
Still, it formed a double bottom pattern, indicating a potential recovery and a likely market shift in favor of ETH.
Source: ETH/BTC ratio, TradingView
That said, the recent market crash has dragged ETH to its December lows above $3K. ETH could attempt to recover from the $3K-$3.3K support zone, with an immediate target of $3.6K. This was the same prospect shared by some ETH traders on X (formerly Twitter).
Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price forecast 2025–2026
However, ETH’s likely recovery could be further strengthened if it were to reclaim the 50-day EMA.
Source: TradingView