Ethereum (ETH) price performance against Bitcoin has declined over the past two years.
In 2021-2022, ETH price showed strong growth in comparison to BTC, driven by increased speculative interest and high activity in the derivatives market.
Investor confidence in Ethereum was reflected in its rising price and open interest in perpetual futures.
Since 2023, this trend has reversed. The value of Ethereum has decreased in comparison to BTC because both the market open interest ratio and price ratio show continuing decline.
The two ratios reached new lows during March 2025 whereby open interest stood at 0.15 and price settled at 0.02.
The trading pair for ETH/BTC exhibits mostly negative market expectations.
Market Fear and the Possibility of a Rebound
Market uncertainty tends to generate unexpected price rebounds even when long-term depreciation seems likely for Ethereum (ETH) price.
When both fear and market liquidity reach low points Ethereum along with other cryptocurrencies tend to rise in value quickly.
Experts predict Ethereum could reach its previous 2021-2022 value point when specific market conditions appear.
Previous market cycles often exhibited fast price rebounds which recorded surprising recovery rates according to a relevant report.
Investors stand ready to notice indications of growing Ethereum confidence because they expect this development to start a recovery trend.
ETH Price Performance and Market Cap
Ethereum was trading at $1,837.98 at press time, reflecting a 1.80% decline in the last 24 hours and a 16.76% drop over the past week.
With a circulating supply of 120 million ETH, its total market capitalization stands at $221.4 billion.
The decline in ETH’s price has coincided with lower interest in its derivatives market.
However, some investors believe this downturn could present new opportunities for long-term accumulation, similar to previous cycles where Ethereum rebounded after periods of weakness.
Ethereum Gas Fees Drop 95% Following Dencun Upgrade
Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade in March 13, 2024 saw average gas fees down 95% over the past year.
Their upgrade also included enhancements on both the execution and consensus layers as well as nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) to improve scalability and reduce fees for layer-2 networks.
YCharts data shows that Ethereum’s average gas fee fell from 72 gwei in 2024 to 2.7 gwei as of March 12, 2025.
In earlier times, users were paying $86 in amounts of the average swap, and $145 for NFT sales in the amount of gas fees.
In fact, according to the current Etherscan data, only an average swap costs $0.39 and an NFT sale amounts to around $0.65.
As the price of gas falls to record lows and volatility reaches an all time high, investors look on to see if ETH price can mount a comeback against Bitcoin.
