Ether (ETH) rose 71% in the third quarter, but the average dollar value traded each day fell by nearly a quarter, leaving price gains and trading activity moving in opposite directions.
Ether closed Sept. 30 at $2,684. Its quarterly advance was the strongest since the first quarter of 2021 and ended three straight quarters of losses. Meanwhile, average daily turnover slipped from $15 billion in Q2 to $11.5 billion in Q3, a 23.2% decrease. The price gain and the turnover decline measure different aspects of the market: Ether ended the quarter higher even as the average daily value traded contracted.
Crypto markets showed a similar divergence, though the drop in trading was smaller across the market as a whole. Total market capitalization increased 39.6% to about $3 trillion, while average daily market volume declined 8.6% to $73.3 billion. Ether’s trading-volume decrease exceeded that marketwide fall.
U.S. spot Ether funds received $3.1 billion in net inflows during Q3. In October, withdrawals were recorded in each session from Oct. 14 through Oct. 20. The five-session total reached $388.9 million, including $26.1 million on Oct. 20. Those October withdrawals came after the quarter covered by the inflow figure.
A later price reading put ETH near $2,504 at 11:23 a.m. ET (15:23 UTC) Oct. 21, roughly 7% below its Sept. 30 close. That point-in-time price followed the quarter-end rally and does not change the reported Q3 gain.
The $3.1 billion figure tracks money moving into or out of U.S. spot funds over the quarter. The $11.5 billion figure is average daily dollar turnover across Ether markets, so the two measures cover different activity and periods.
