‘Largest’ volume skew for ETH confirms pivot to altcoins: Glassnode

Surging ETH and BNB activity, alongside shifting USDT flows, are all signals that traders are pivoting into altcoins.

Key takeaways:

• The dominance of Ethers futures volume surpassed Bitcoin for the first time since 2022.
• Tron-ecosystem stablecoin activity rose, pointing to capital inflows into the altcoin ecosystem.

Ether (ETH) has gained everyone‘s attention over the past few weeks, with new data showing a clear shift away from Bitcoin (BTC) as the biggest altcoin by market capitalization rallied more than 50% in a month. According to Glassnode, Ether perpetual futures volume dominance has overtaken Bitcoin for the first time since 2022, marking the “largest” volume skew in ETH’s favor on record. The analytics platform noted that this shift “confirms a meaningful rotation of speculative interest toward the altcoin sector.”

BTC vs ETH perps volume dominance. Source: Glassnode/X

Ethers open interest dominance has also climbed to nearly 40%, the highest level since April 2023. Historically, only around 5% of days have seen a higher reading, suggesting that traders are increasingly positioning around ETH rather than BTC. This increases the probability of a growing appetite for risk and continued capital rotation into altcoin markets.

Supporting the narrative, onchain data shows a sharp increase in USDT transfers on the Tron network, with Binance driving the flow. Binance accounts for approximately 62% of all TRON-based USDT transfers, with daily volumes ranging between $2.5 to $3 billion. These large stablecoin movements typically precede periods of elevated market volatility, especially when tied to institutional positioning.

Tron USDT transfers through CEXs. Source: CryptoQuant

The growing concentration of stablecoin liquidity on Tron and Binance suggests these platforms remain the preferred infrastructure for high-frequency and high-volume trading, with liquidity possibly entering the altcoin market.

BNB joins altseason signal as stablecoin reserves fall

Crypto analyst Timo Oinonen noted that Binance‘s native token BNB (BNB) has climbed 7.4% over the past week, significantly outperforming Bitcoin. This relative strength positions BNB as another leading indicator of the market’s shift toward altcoins.

BNB price and total stablecoins reserve decline. Source: CryptoQuant

The analyst explained that institutional activity supports this trend. Nasdaq-listed Nano Labs recently disclosed a $105 million BNB treasury, totaling 128,000 tokens. This marks a strategic move to diversify into digital assets and leverage BNBs growing utility within the BNB Smart Chain ecosystem.

At the same time, Binances stablecoin reserves continue to decline, signaling that previously idle capital is being redeployed into the market. This divergence between falling stablecoin reserves and rising BNB price suggests renewed risk appetite and increased buying pressure in the altcoin space. Overall, USDT reserves on exchanges have dropped to $36 billion from a high of $45 billion in February 2025.

USDT reserves on exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.