title: Bitcoin However, all eyes are on ether

“Investors are finally recognizing the compelling investment opportunity that Ethereum presents. It’s still trading well below its all-time highs, while bitcoin is already near its ATH levels

Ether has been a hot topic in the crypto market recently, with several factors combining to drive up interest in the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Ether has been a hot topic in the crypto market recently, with several factors combining to drive up interest in the second-largest cryptocurrency.

As BTC trades close to its all-time high, investors are finally recognizing the compelling investment opportunity that ETH presents, according to Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE.

As BTC trades close to its all-time high, investors are finally recognizing the compelling investment opportunity that ETH presents, according to Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE.

"It’s still trading well below its all-time highs, while bitcoin is already near its ATH levels," he said.

ETH is also playing an increasingly important role in tokenizing real-world assets, such as stocks, money-market funds, and U.S. Treasuries, Mei added.

"It’s very likely that Ethereum will reach and/or surpass its all-time high price by the end of the year."

The move comes as ether ETFs have attracted more than $800 million in the past two weeks alone, outpacing bitcoin’s sub-$400 million, according to SoSoValue data.

That’s helped the spread between ether’s implied volatility and bitcoin’s reach its highest level since late 2022 - a sign traders expect bigger price swings ahead.

Open interest in ether perpertuals on Kraken also hit an all-time high of 30,000 ETH this week, said Alexia Theodorou, Head of Derivatives at Kraken, in an email to CoinDesk.

"This signals a notable uptick in speculative activity around the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap."

However, the market has yet to form a clear directional consensus, with the long/short ratio still well below January levels, she added.