Here’s a more concise and fluid rewrite:
This isn’t a broad-based upswing. Bitcoin has gained roughly 4% over the same period, while solana, TRON, and hyperliquid have all moved lower.
Ether is the only major crypto showing real strength this week, and its rally can’t be fully attributed to the softer U.S. inflation data released Tuesday.
By Thursday, ether was trading near $1,920, up 2.2% on the day and about 11% over the past week, with a market cap around $231 billion and roughly $12 billion in daily trading volume. Bitcoin, meanwhile, sat near $64,600, down 0.3% on the day but still up 4.2% for the week. Beyond these two, most large tokens are under pressure.
Solana has slipped 1.1% to $77 and is down on the week. TRON fell to $0.32, off 1.6% over seven days, while hyperliquid’s HYPE declined 1.8% to $66, down 1.7% for the period. XRP, BNB, and dogecoin have each risen just over 2% this week — far trailing ether’s gains.
Two main forces appear to be supporting ether.
First, U.S. spot ether ETFs are seeing renewed inflows. According to SoSoValue, they’ve attracted $96 million in just the first three days of the week, already surpassing last week’s $84 million total. This comes after a stretch of outflows in late June, including $82 million withdrawn on June 25.
Bitcoin ETF flows, however, remain inconsistent. Funds saw $424 million exit on July 13, only to bring in $181 million the following day — a sign of short-term trading rather than steady institutional buying.
That makes ether’s demand more concentrated. Of the $53.8 million in inflows on Wednesday, BlackRock’s ETHA fund alone drew $45.3 million, while its smaller ETHB fund added $4 million. The remaining ETFs shared less than $5 million combined.
At the same time, Grayscale’s original ether trust — which charges a 2.5% fee versus BlackRock’s 0.25% — has recorded $5.3 billion in cumulative outflows since launch.
Ether has also picked up a new source of demand. Robinhood Chain, the brokerage’s layer-2 network launched on July 1, uses ether for gas fees and settles on Ethereum. It’s already processing more than $800 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, much of it driven by memecoin trading.
Despite volatile ETF flows, bitcoin itself appears relatively steady. Nansen data shows continued exchange outflows even amid rising Middle East tensions, with no meaningful shift into stablecoins — typically a sign investors are stepping back.
Funding rates remain close to neutral, suggesting that the overleveraged long positions behind June’s liquidation events have largely been cleared. Bitcoin dominance stands at 58.3%.
