Ethereum Futures Hit $1 Trillion; Overtakes Bitcoin For First Time Ever

The market competition between the top two cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), has continued to heat up as Ethereum has led the market in gains of recent. In August, the future market performance of ETH hit two historic benchmarks. 

ETH futures volume reached $1.07 trillion in the month. This marks only the second time in the history of Ethereum that its futures volume has crossed $1 trillion. It is also the first time in the history of the crypto market that ETH futures volume has surpassed that of Bitcoin which clinched $941 billion. 

According to a report written by Tom Rodgers, the head of research at London-based specialist provider of crypto-backed securities ETC Group, the event is indicative of more liquidity in the Ethereum market and is highly desirable from a trading perspective. This is because it suggests that the recent price gains in ETH will continue for a while. 

“More volume means there is greater liquidity in one asset or another, which is desirable from a trading perspective as there are plenty of buyers and sellers. That would suggest Ethereum’s 16% bounce to the upside since 29 August will continue apace,” the analyst wrote. 

However, he cautioned that there is also the likelihood of volatility causing the market to swing down. Coupled with soaring open interest figures in both BTC and ETH derivatives, higher levels of trader liquidations are expected. 

Is Ethereum’s Bitcoin flippening near?

Not missing a beat, Ethereum bulls have pointed to ETH futures volume overtaking BTC’s for the first time ever as one of the signs of the flippening – the point at which the ETH market cap will surpass that of BTC – that may soon happen according to a Fortune report. 

These enthusiasts expect the flippening to happen when the Ethereum blockchain moves to be a proof-of-stake (PoS) chain. However, this hypothetical event may still be some way off as the market cap of ETH, at around $208 billion, is around 51% of the $404 billion market cap of BTC per data from BlockchainCenter. 

Meanwhile, the performance of Ether and Bitcoin in the spot markets has also shown that there is more enthusiasm in the ETH market at present. 

In the last 7 days, the spot price of ETH has rallied 5.21% to now be trading at about $1,700 on the day. In comparison, BTC has increased 3.67% in the same time frame. The ETH performance has been linked to anticipation of the merge upgrade scheduled for later this September.