Identifying the 60% Bitcoin dominance problem for Ethereum bulls

Ethereum [$ETH] has had a tough year compared to Bitcoin [$BTC].

While Bitcoin continues to attract most of the markets attention, Ethereum has struggled. The market still looks $BTC-led, with investors preferring it over altcoins for now.

$BTC has the upper hand in 2026

Ethereum has spent most of the year struggling against Bitcoin. The $ETH/$BTC pair is down close to 20% YTD, which simply means $ETH has not kept pace with $BTCs strength.

Source: TradingView

This is important. $ETH/$BTC is often used as a quick way to judge whether the market is moving towards altcoins or staying focused on Bitcoin.

Right now, the indication is fairly clear. Capital is still favouring Bitcoin, and Ethereum has not shown enough momentum to challenge that trend.

Investors are pulling back too!

Bitcoin Spot ETFs saw weekly net outflows of about $1.26 billion, while Ethereum Spot ETFs also recorded outflows of around $216 million.

Source: SoSoValue

This tells us two things.

First, risk appetite has slowed down in general, even for Bitcoin. Second, the weakness is not leading investors towards Ethereum or other altcoins.

Source: SoSoValue

Bitcoin still has a much larger ETF asset base. So, even during outflow weeks, it remains the main institutional crypto trade.

Ethereum, on the other hand, has been seeing weaker price action and weaker flows together. That makes it harder to argue on the altcoins behalf.

$BTC.D keeps altseason on hold

The final piece of the picture is Bitcoin dominance. At the time of writing, $BTC.D was still holding around 60.6%, even after slowing down from its recent highs. Altcoin rallies usually need the opposite – Weak $BTC.D, improving $ETH/$BTC, and capital moving further out on the risk curve.

Source: TradingView

Right now, we are not seeing that.

$ETH/$BTC is down, ETF flows are negative, and Bitcoin still controls the larger share of crypto market value. Short-term altcoin bounces can always happen, but the verdict is that this market is still being led by Bitcoin.

Final Summary

• Ethereum is down nearly 20% against Bitcoin in 2026.
• The market does not look ready for an altcoin season yet.