Ether has widened its lead over bitcoin as fund flows and on-chain activity move in different directions. CoinDesk market data shows ETH up about 8% over the past 24 hours, compared with roughly 5% for bitcoin. Over the past week, ether has outperformed by about 4 percentage points, and over the past month the gap has reached nearly 9 points.
The clearest shift showed up in ETF flows. According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $325.8 million in net outflows on April 13. Fidelity’s FBTC accounted for $229 million of that total, while ARK’s ARKB lost $63 million. That retreat points to a cooldown in the ETF bid that had been bitcoin’s main source of marginal demand.
Ether funds reverse three weeks of withdrawals
Ether ETFs moved the other way. The products posted $7.7 million in daily net inflows, while weekly inflows for the period ending April 10 reached $187 million, the strongest reading of 2026. The turn followed three straight weeks of net outflows totaling about $308 million. Cumulative inflows into ether ETFs have now climbed to a record $11.68 billion.
Ethereum transaction count surges, but throughput signals are mixed
Network activity also accelerated sharply. Artemis data shows Ethereum daily transactions rising 41% week over week to about 3.6 million, up from roughly 2.5 million on April 10. Among major chains, only Sonic and TON recorded larger percentage gains, though both started from much smaller bases.
That increase does not tell a uniform story. Over the same period, stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum fell 42.6%, and fees dropped by nearly 50%. The figures suggest transaction counts are rising while average transaction size and overall economic throughput remain softer.
Bitcoin holds up even as ETF demand cools
Bitcoin has stayed relatively firm despite the ETF outflows. Glassnode said in its latest weekly report that the market is still showing underlying spot support even as the dominant ETF bid weakens. In other words, bitcoin has been absorbing the withdrawals without an immediate breakdown.
The next move depends on whether ether funds can keep attracting inflows and whether bitcoin positioning can unwind without a sharp correction. The article also points back to the 2025 “stablecoin summer,” when rising USDC and USDT transfer volumes pushed Ethereum’s economic throughput to record levels and helped lift ether toward $4,000. That episode remains a benchmark for judging how much of the current rally is backed by fundamentals.