According to CoinGecko data, Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin in the third quarter, but its market liquidity became relatively thinner compared to Bitcoin.

Ethereum’s native token ETH is trading at $2,705.88, performing better in the third quarter than Bitcoin’s BTC at $85,614.43. Nevertheless, the difficulty of trading has increased due to a relative decline in liquidity—i.e., the ease with which tokens can be bought and sold without significantly affecting prices.

According to the report from CoinGecko, Ethereum's price increased by 70% during that quarter, which is higher than Bitcoin's 42% increase. However, from July 6th to September 30th, its average daily market depth median was only 35% to 45% of Bitcoin's; whereas in the same period last year, this ratio was at least 60%. CoinGecko states that this represents a "significant decline compared to last year's data."

Market depth is a standard way to measure liquidity, referring to the total value in US dollars of buy and sell orders placed within a certain range from the current price on an exchange. The deeper the market, the more capital is required to drive price changes; in markets with lower liquidity, large orders can quickly consume available orders, further contributing to price fluctuations.

Ethereum has a depth of $13 million to $14 million within a range of 0.15% of the market price. Simply put, this means that there is such an amount of capital in orders that are close to the current price; if all these orders were executed, it might only cause Ethereum's price to change by 0.15%. This level of depth near the current price is most important for daily trading and is also crucial for large orders that wish to be executed without significantly impacting the market.

However, Ethereum is still considered relatively easy to trade.

CoinGecko indicates that: "ETH remains quite liquid within this range [within 0.15% of the market price], and the depth on each side at most exchanges exceeds one million US dollars."

Moreover, Ethereum is not the only mainstream token whose market has thinned.

CoinGecko also indicates that the liquidity of SOL, the token of Solana, Ethereum's main competitor, is also contracting, although that institution uses a broader measure. "Since 2025, the overall liquidity of SOL has significantly decreased," the company stated.

At a depth within 2% of the market price, the amount has decreased from approximately 28 million US dollars on each side of the order book last year to about 20 million US dollars this year. The 2% depth indicates how much capital is present in orders that are further away from the current price. It measures how much selling or buying pressure the market can absorb before experiencing more significant price fluctuations, which are common during sharp rises or falls. Therefore, while the contraction in Ethereum's liquidity is evident in areas closer to the current price, the change in SOL reflects its ability to withstand greater volatility.

The total depth of the payment-oriented cryptocurrency XRP remains relatively stable at around $30 million. However, during the study period, its order book was significantly biased towards buyers, with buy orders approaching $18 million and sell orders at around $14 million.

CoinGecko indicates that the market value of XRP is approximately 40% higher than that of SOL, yet its depth within a 2% price range is lower. This is because the average daily trading volume of SOL is still 25% higher than that of XRP.

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