Traders Switch to Ethereum as Bitcoin and XRP Lose Support

Crypto traders have shifted their focus to Ethereum, despite the ongoing outflow from Ethereum-ETFs. Meanwhile, pessimism is growing around Bitcoin and XRP, and analysts believe this sentiment could aid in the market's recovery.

According to Santiment, there are 2.05 optimistic comments about Ethereum for every bearish comment on social media. However, U.S. spot Ethereum-ETFs have been experiencing fund outflows for ten consecutive trading days.

Bitcoin's sentiment indicator fell to 0.82 after unsuccessful attempts to break through $87,000 and a subsequent decline to $81,000. As a result, traders with long positions lost $688.56 million in a day. XRP is also unpopular: its sentiment index is 0.92 after a weekly drop of more than 9%, and the asset struggles to stay above $1.40.

The shift in sentiment happened quickly. At the beginning of the month, Ethereum and XRP were among the underperformers, while Bitcoin was supported by optimistic expectations. "Ethereum suddenly became the crowd's favorite, Bitcoin is the opposite picture, and XRP remains in the zone of fear and negativity," Santiment analysts note.

Despite the prevalence of positive comments, investors continue to withdraw funds from ETFs. According to SoSoValue, on October 12 alone, $85.4 million was withdrawn from Ethereum-ETFs. Since September 29, the total outflow has exceeded $780 million. Bitcoin-ETFs also went negative by $65.4 million on the same day. Net values for XRP-ETFs remained zero, with a total asset volume of $1.55 billion.

According to Santiment, the difference in sentiment could affect the next stages of market recovery. "From a countertrend perspective, the fear surrounding Bitcoin and XRP is healthier than the hype around Ethereum if prices start to recover," analysts believe.

The logic is that when most traders are optimistic, the majority of demand is already priced in. Mass fear, on the other hand, leaves more room for sentiment to improve. Currently, Ethereum's popularity remains in question, as real investment demand needs to catch up with the social media hype.