Ether's bitcoin-beating Q3 rally came with a catch. Liquidity thinned.

Ether had $13 million to $14 million in depth within 0.15% of its market price. In simple terms, that's roughly how much money was sitting in orders close enough to the price that clearing it would move ether by just 0.15%. Depth this close to the price matters most for everyday trades, and for large orders that traders want filled without moving the market.

The data undercuts a popular idea in markets that rising prices pull in more traders, and more traders mean deeper order books. That didn't happen with ether.

That said, ether is still fairly easy to trade.

"$ETH remains fairly liquid at this range [within 0.15% of the market price], with most exchanges maintaining over $1 million in depth on each side," CoinGecko said.

And ether isn't the only major token with thinner markets.

Liquidity in solana's $SOL, ether's main rival, has also shrunk, though CoinGecko measured it over a wider range. "The overall liquidity for $SOL has shrunk considerably since 2025," the firm said.

$SOL's depth within 2% of the market price fell from about $28 million on each side of the order book last year to around $20 million this year. Depth at 2% shows how much money sits in orders further from the current price. It's a gauge of how much selling or buying pressure the market can absorb before the price makes a bigger move, the kind seen during a sharp rally or sell-off. So while ether's thinning shows up right next to the price, $SOL's shows up in its ability to handle larger swings.