BTC’s dominance rate rose to as high as 49.06% early Wednesday, according to TradingView data, before retreating to 48.12% as ETH’s price rose. The last time the metric was around the 49% level happened in July 2021, some 21 months ago, TradingView shows.
ETH dominance, on the other hand, surged to 19.87% on Thursday, marking a one-month high.
The BTC dominance rate is the BTC market capitalization’s share of the total market cap of the cryptocurrency market. The metric is important to assess the relative strength of BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, compared to the broader crypto market, or identify periods when altcoins outperform, also known as an altcoin season. Ether dominance, similarly shows the second largest cryptocurrency’s relative value to the crypto market.
Ether’s improved performance has reduced bitcoin’s share of the crypto market. The shift has come after the Ethereum network’s long-awaited tech upgrade, also called Shanghai or Shapella, was deployed without a hitch late Wednesday.
The upgrade enabled the withdrawal of more than 17.4 million of staked tokens, worth some $35 billion, from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake blockchain for the first time since its launch in December 2020. Its successful deployment eliminated a slight but concerning f risk that ETH investors might not be able to reclaim their tokens locked up in staking contracts..
ETH rose as high as $2,023 on Thursday, gaining 5% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data, leading the upswing of the broader crypto prices.
BTC, which also reacted positively to the upgrade, is only up 1.5% through the day, lagging behind altcoins.
