Ether tops $3,400 as spot ETF inflows hit a record

The price of the second-largest cryptocurrency jumped 8.9% in 24 hours to $3,452 — the highest since mid-January, according to CoinGecko. The rally was underpinned by record inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs.

According to SoSoValue, on 16 July net inflows into nine exchange-traded funds totalled $726.74m. BlackRock’s ETHA led with $499m.

Since the start of July, spot ETH ETFs have attracted $2.27bn — a monthly record since launch.

BTC Markets analyst Rachael Lucas says Ethereum is increasingly being viewed as a long-term institutional asset rather than a speculative instrument. She noted that funds already hold 4% of the altcoin’s total capitalisation, pointing to a rapid influx of capital from large players.

LVRG Research’s director of research, Nick Ruck, linked Ether’s momentum to a rise in public companies investing in the cryptocurrency as a reserve asset.

ConsenSys-backed SharpLink Gaming became the largest holder with ~280,600 ETH, overtaking the Ethereum Foundation.

Other altcoins rose alongside Ethereum: XRP (+7.8%), Solana (+5.7%) and BNB (+4.2%), according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin added 0.2% over the same period.

Bitcoin’s dominance index fell 2.59% over the week to 62.62%, per TradingView. Lucas said such declines have historically presaged an “altseason”.

Liquidation wave

Ether’s rise triggered $177.67m in short liquidations, according to Coinglass. That accounted for most of the $227.74m liquidated across the market over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin shorts lost only $45.33m over the same period.

The altcoin’s 24-hour trading volume rose 28% to $161bn, surpassing bitcoin’s $109bn. Open interest in Ethereum derivatives increased by 7%.

Perpetuals.com founder Patrick Gruhn says the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency reacts acutely to US regulatory news. That heightens uncertainty and increases volatility. By contrast, bitcoin’s situation was more clear-cut, he added.

Glassnode analysts reported that Ethereum is the only top-10 non-stablecoin asset with rising daily futures volume, up 27%.

#Ethereum stands out as the only top-10 non-stablecoin asset with rising futures volume over the past 24h (+27%). Open Interest is also up (+6%), while funding remains neutral at 0.0047% — suggesting fresh positioning, but without signs of excessive leverage. pic.twitter.com/wKLWIXrhdu

— glassnode (@glassnode) July 16, 2025

Funding remains neutral, suggesting fresh positioning without signs of excessive leverage, the analysts concluded.

Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, added that from April to June funding was negative — indicating a market dominated by shorts.

Amid the moves, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes announced the start of “ETH season”.

It’s $ETH szn, what are we buying @MaelstromFund :

The best in class for every DeFi vertical. Some charts are better than others, but they will all rip if $ETH continues outperforming.

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) July 16, 2025

He said his venture fund, Maelstrom, plans to buy tokens of “best-in-class” DeFi projects.

On 11 July, Ethereum prices broke above $3,000 for the first time since February.