Ethereum liquidity falls to 35–45% of Bitcoin's level
Ethereum liquidity on major centralized crypto exchanges has declined significantly relative to Bitcoin. In 2026, ETH market depth stands at around 35–45% of BTC's level, down from at least 60% a year earlier.
At the same time, Bitcoin itself has become significantly more liquid. According to a CoinGecko report, median aggregate BTC market depth across the eight exchanges studied reached $29 million on the bid side and $37 million on the ask side, nearly 50% higher than in 2025.
Ethereum liquidity depth on centralized exchanges. Source: CoinGecko
CoinGecko measured order book depth within narrow price ranges around the assets' current market prices. The metric reflects the amount of capital required to move the price significantly and affects slippage and the market's ability to handle large trades.
Gap between Ethereum and Bitcoin widens
Median Ethereum liquidity within a narrow range around the market price stands at $13–14 million. That is equivalent to roughly 35–45% of Bitcoin's liquidity, down from at least 60% in 2025.
Despite the decline relative to BTC, CoinGecko considers the Ethereum market sufficiently liquid. On seven of the eight exchanges studied, order book depth exceeds $1 million on both the bid and ask sides.
The exception is MEXC, where market depth stands at around $450,000. According to the researchers, even this amount is sufficient to execute large retail trades without significantly affecting the price.
Binance remains the most liquid venue for Ethereum trading near the current market price. Bitget and OKX follow, while Bitget's market depth increases significantly further away from the current price.
Binance retains lead in Bitcoin liquidity
Binance accounts for 25.3% of total BTC liquidity across the eight exchanges studied. Within a $100 range of the market price, depth stands at $7.3 million on the bid side and $8.3 million on the ask side, compared with roughly $4–5 million for Bitget and OKX.
The study also found declining liquidity among other major crypto assets. Solana market depth fell by more than 28.5% compared with 2025, while Dogecoin liquidity remains relatively limited: only Binance and MEXC provide more than $1 million in depth within a 2% range of the market price.
Amid these changes in market liquidity, Ethereum is preparing for the next stage of its protocol upgrade. The Glamsterdam upgrade is scheduled to be activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6 before its subsequent deployment on the mainnet.
The changes will affect transaction processing, block production and gas pricing. The testnet launch will allow developers and node operators to evaluate the new mechanisms before they are introduced on the mainnet.
Earlier, we reported that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed moving a significant share of computation offchain by 2030. The network would be able to verify the correctness of such computations using compact cryptographic proofs.
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