Ethereum liquidity drops below 50% of Bitcoin's level

Ethereum's standing in the liquidity rankings has taken a meaningful hit. A CoinGecko analysis of order-book depth across eight major centralized exchanges shows Ethereum's median market depth sitting at $13 to $14 million, which puts it at just 35 to 45% of Bitcoin's liquidity. A year ago, Ethereum was holding above 60% of Bitcoin's level.

Bitcoin's median aggregate depth has reached $29 million on the bid side and $37 million on the ask side, roughly 50% higher than the figures recorded in 2025. Order-book depth in this analysis is measured at approximately 0.15% from the mid-price, translating to about $100 on either side for Bitcoin and $3 for Ethereum.

Binance leads liquidity for both assets across the exchanges studied. At the other end of the spectrum, MEXC's liquidity sits at approximately $450,000, making it a clear outlier in the dataset.

The contrast isn't just that Ethereum got worse. It's that Bitcoin got substantially better while Ethereum's liquidity remained roughly flat in absolute terms. That combination mechanically pushes the ratio down.

Increased institutional interest in Bitcoin, partly channeled through spot exchange-traded products, is one plausible driver of the deeper order books on the Bitcoin side. Ethereum, despite its own spot ETF approvals, has not attracted the same scale of order-book commitment.