Ethereum liquidity on centralized exchanges drops below half that of Bitcoin according to CoinGecko

Ethereum's liquidity on centralized exchanges has fallen below half that of Bitcoin. CoinGecko draws its measurement from order books, not displayed volumes. Indeed, near the price, there are fewer orders to absorb a large purchase or a large sale.

Key Points

The median depth of ETH is now only 35-45% of that of Bitcoin, compared to at least 60% in 2025.

At 0.15% of the price, the aggregate market only offers $13-14 million in orders.

Seven out of eight platforms keep more than a million dollars on each side. Binance dominates, MEXC stalls.

Fewer orders close to price

By analyzing order books from July 6 to September 3, 2026, CoinGecko found that the liquidity of ether on centralized exchanges fell below half that of bitcoin. It now represents only 35 to 45%, compared to at least 60% in 2025.

To arrive at this figure, the aggregator recorded every day the buy and sell orders still pending on eight platforms: Binance, Bitget, Bybit, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Kraken, MEXC and OKX. In practice, Coingecko measured the depth of the book, that is to say the orders located very close to the current price. The thicker this stock is, the more a massive order could be placed without having too much impact on the price.

For ether, CoinGecko narrows this window to 0.15% around the price, or around $3 on either side. In this band, the eight platforms combined only display a median of 13 to 14 million dollars in orders. For bitcoin, the comparable window is worth about $100 on either side, and CoinGecko finds $29 million in buying and $37 million in selling there.

This gap does not come from a collapse of ether books. In dollars, they remained more or less stable. These are the bitcoin books which have thickened by almost 50% in one year. The ratio is falling because bitcoin gained a lead, not because ether lost its lead.

Binance far ahead, the rally on a thinner market

Seven of the eight platforms hold over $1 million in orders on either side of this narrow window. Enough to absorb a classic order without changing the course. MEXC is the exception, around $450,000, sufficient depth for an individual, not for an institutional.

On the chart published on October 5, Binance leads the pack. Its median depth exceeds 10 million dollars when we move away from the price by around forty dollars, for both buying and selling. Bitget and OKX follow. Crypto.com and Kraken remain much thinner. The hierarchy is not fixed: an exchange dominant in the median does not always offer the best book on a given day.

The contrast with the price is clear. Ether gained almost 70% in the third quarter, bitcoin about 42%. The course ran faster than the notebook which must absorb it. For a large order, this means more slippage: the same amount moves the price more.

The gap remains to be put into perspective. Some ETH liquidity has migrated to liquid staking derivatives, which are not included in this spot statement. The study does not cover DEXs or these tokens. It simply says that, on the centralized spot and very close to the price, Bitcoin has widened the gap.