Ether’s post-Shanghai rally snaps Bitcoin dominance from 21-month high

BTC’s dominance rate rose to as high as 49.06% early Wednesday, according to TradingView data, before retreating to 48.12% as ETH’s price rallied. The last time the calculation was around the 49% level occurred in July 2021, about 21 months ago, TradingView shows.

ETH dominance, on the other hand, increased to 19.87% on Thursday, which marked a one-month high.

The BTC dominance rate is the BTC market cap’s share of the total market cap of the cryptocurrency market. The calculation is important for assessing the relative strength of BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, compared to the broader crypto market, or identifying periods when altcoins outperform, also known as an altcoin season. Ether Dominance similarly shows the second largest cryptocurrency̵[ads1]7;s relative value to the crypto market.

Ether’s improved performance has reduced bitcoin’s share of the crypto market. The shift has come after the Ethereum network’s long-awaited technology upgrade, also called Shanghai or Shapella, was deployed without a hitch late Wednesday.

The upgrade enabled the withdrawal of more than 17.4 million staked tokens, worth around $35 billion, from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake blockchain for the first time since its launch in December 2020. The successful deployment eliminated a small but worrisome risk that ETH investors may not be able to get back their tokens locked in staking contracts.

ETH rose as high as $2,023 on Thursday, gaining 5% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data, leading the rally in broader crypto prices.

BTC, which also reacted positively to the upgrade, is only up 1.5% on the day, lagging altcoins.