Bitcoin has gained 47% in the past month. Meanwhile, Sui Coin (SUI) has jumped 74%, Solana has gained 56%, and Polkdadot (DOT) has risen 44%, according to data compiled by TradingView. Ether has fallen short of these DeFi competitors, posting a 25% gain over the period.

While Ether hit $3,450 on crypto exchanges on Saturday, some investors are concerned about its prospects of reaching $4,000 by the peak of this crypto macro cycle.

Aside from concerns about Ethereum’s sprawling, volatile codebase and confusing platform architecture, some analysts have expressed pessimism about the fundamentals of Ethereum’s economy.

ETH/BTC Ratio Is Changing Again

Legendary commodities and forex trader Peter Brandt pointed out to followers on Wednesday that the price ratio between BTC and ETH is at a cyclical inflection point where it has bottomed in past cycles. This means that Ether prices could soon rise, even relative to BTC.

Ethereum Price Prediction: $6,000 in 2025

Crypto chartist Ali Martinez predicts that Ether will overtake Bitcoin up the chart by the end of this macro market cycle. He points to $6,000 as the peak price in his most optimistic scenario for Ether in the coming months. Martinez expects Ethereum to rise to at least $4,000 in this cycle.

“Every market cycle has experienced a phase where #Ethereum outperforms Bitcoin,” Martinez wrote. “It hasn’t happened yet in the current cycle, but it’s definitely on the horizon. With ETH lagging, there’s an opportunity to buy it before it outperforms.”

“Sophisticated investors know this, and there has been a significant shift in Ethereum spot ETFs,” he continued, showing a chart of inflows into Ethereum spot ETFs from August to November 18. “They have gone from distribution to accumulation, raising over $147 million in ETH.”

Institutional Support for Ethereum

In addition to the increase in monthly net inflows into Ethereum ETFs and Ether futures volume in November, institutional investors are showing a high degree of confidence in ETH, as measured by the percentage of coins they hold that are being staked to secure the network and generate income in addition to rising market prices on crypto exchanges.

Institutional investors are actually interested in investing in Ethereum — not just holding Ether, but locking it into staking contracts to provide a yield-generating economics for the platform. This shows a high level of conviction in the product and its long-term growth prospects.

A recent survey of Ethereum users by Blockworks Research, a New York-based blockchain research company, published in mid-October 30, found that 69.2% of respondents are staking Ethereum, but 78.8% of investment firms or asset managers own ETH shares. They also take extra steps to keep their Ether more liquid when they stake it, with over 52% reporting that they are using a liquid staking token. This shows the level of complexity for these traditional financial participants in the crypto smart contract economy.

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