Ether had a worse week than bitcoin. From Friday 2 October to Friday 9 October, ETH fell 6.85% on Coinbase to a UTC close of $2,485, while BTC fell 2.32% to $82,545. The two moves together pushed the ether-to-bitcoin ratio down from 0.0321 at the end of September to 0.0301 at Friday’s close, a drop of 6.3% in nine days. Behind the move sit two stories that readers following ether should hold apart: persistent outflows from U.S. spot ether ETFs, and the largest ether treasury company running into the self-imposed ceiling on its own buying (TradingNews, 9 October 2026).
The price table
| UTC day | ETH close (Coinbase) | BTC close (Coinbase) | ETH/BTC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 30 Sep | $2,683.93 | $83,556.14 | 0.03212 |
| Fri 2 Oct | $2,668.13 | $84,504.88 | 0.03157 |
| Tue 6 Oct | $2,697.28 | $85,539.77 | 0.03153 |
| Wed 7 Oct | $2,572.80 | $83,275.06 | 0.03090 |
| Thu 8 Oct | $2,472.89 | $81,692.79 | 0.03027 |
| Fri 9 Oct | $2,485.23 | $82,544.71 | 0.03011 |
Source: Coinbase Exchange daily candles, UTC days, pulled at about 06:15 UTC on 10 October 2026. The ratio is ETH close divided by BTC close. Other outlets use different windows and report a larger loss: TradingNews gives 9.2% over seven days and The Rio Times 6.77% from Friday to Friday (The Rio Times, 9 October 2026). The differences are mostly clock and start-date conventions; measured from Tuesday’s close of $2,697 to Friday’s close, ether lost 7.86%.
For context, this desk calculated the same ratio across the last 350 daily Coinbase candles: the low was 0.02578 on 6 June 2026 and the high 0.03631 on 26 October 2025. At 0.0301 ether is 16.8% above its June trough and 17.1% below its October 2025 peak, so the ratio is not at an extreme. It is a one-week deterioration inside a range, not a break of one.
Story one: eight days of ETF outflows
According to TradingNews, U.S. spot ether ETFs have recorded eight consecutive days of net outflows totalling more than $637 million, including $160.9 million on Wednesday 7 October and $72.5 million on Thursday 8 October. FXStreet, citing SoSoValue, reports $160.7 million on Wednesday and about $565 million over seven straight days with no inflows that week. The two figures differ by a few hundred thousand dollars on the single day, which is normal between trackers; neither source gives a per-fund breakdown that this desk could verify. It is worth setting the ether figure beside bitcoin’s: this desk’s ETF flows update on Thursday showed bitcoin funds with a net outflow of about $407 million for the month through 8 October (the TFTC table now shows −$409.7 million). Both product families are in net redemption, but ether’s run is longer and its fall in price steeper.
Story two: BitMine and the 5% line
BitMine Immersion, the largest corporate holder of ether, held 6,016,414 ETH as of 4 October, equal to 4.927% of supply, of which 5,067,309 ETH (84%) was staked, TradingNews reports. The company has a 5% of supply cap, about 6,105,950 ETH, which it announced on Wednesday 7 October; the headroom is therefore 89,536 ETH, roughly $223 million at Friday’s price. The company bought 87,216 ETH over the previous 30 days and 15,112 ETH in the latest week. At the 30-day pace the room would last about a month; at the latest week’s pace, about six weeks. The desk covered the company’s approach to the target in an earlier piece. The market implication is that one of the steadiest buyers in the market is close to the end of its programme, and the exact figures above are the company’s own disclosures as relayed by one outlet; they should be checked against BitMine’s filings.
The liquidation and positioning picture
FXStreet, citing Coinglass, reports $351.6 million of liquidations in the 24-hour window it cites, of which $294.6 million were longs and $57 million shorts, consistent with a leveraged long book being forced out as ether broke below $2,500. It also cites CryptoQuant data showing exchange reserves rising by about 132,000 ETH since Monday and 233,000 ETH over two weeks, with wallets holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH selling about 151,000 ETH over two weeks. Rising exchange reserves are often read as potential sell pressure, though a transfer to an exchange is not a sale. On the TradingNews numbers, open interest is $43.9 billion and the funding rate 0.0034% per eight hours, which is only mildly positive: the market is not paying a large premium to be long.
Why bitcoin fell less
Both coins were hit by the same macro backdrop this week: the Federal Reserve minutes on 7 October pointing to another hike, and a 10-year Treasury yield that touched a 24-year high of 5.35% on Thursday before easing to 5.23%, according to FXStreet. The desk’s study of yield days found that bitcoin’s relationship with falling yields was weak even before this week. Ether’s extra weakness has more specific causes: ETF redemptions that have lasted longer, a treasury-company bid that is approaching its limit, and a leveraged long position that had to be cleared. None of these is a statement about Ethereum’s technology or usage, and one week is a short window.
Levels to watch
- $2,355 (TradingNews) / $2,338 (FXStreet): support at the 100-day exponential moving average; the two sources quote slightly different values for the average.
- $2,500–$2,512: the broken 50-day average and Friday’s high; reclaiming it is the first step.
- $2,600: TradingNews says a close above this level is needed to negate the break.
- 0.0300 ETH/BTC: Friday’s 0.03011 close was the lowest daily close since 18 August on this desk’s Coinbase calculation, and the round number just below it is the next marker. The ratio closed below 0.0300 on each day from 14 to 18 August.
Wednesday’s September CPI report (8:30 a.m. ET) and the 27–28 October FOMC meeting are the two scheduled events that could change the macro picture; Friday’s ETF flow figures were not yet available when this was written.
Sources: Coinbase Exchange candles; TradingNews (9 October 2026); FXStreet (9 October 2026, citing SoSoValue, CryptoQuant and Coinglass); The Rio Times (9 October 2026). Third-party figures are as reported by those outlets.
Method: bitcoin and ether prices, highs, lows and closes are Coinbase Exchange candles (UTC day or UTC hour) pulled by Bitcoin Mastery at about 06:15 UTC on Saturday 10 October 2026; the 10 October candle is still open at that time, so any closing figure quoted is the 9 October close unless stated. Third-party figures are attributed to their source and date.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are volatile and you can lose some or all of the money you put in. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin, any exchange-traded fund, any listed security or any other asset, and the technical levels, probabilities and scenarios discussed are descriptions of published data, not forecasts. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.