A sharp Bitcoin sell-off that pushed BTC below $60,000 this week dragged Ethereum down with it, sending ETH toward $1,500 in the same candle and triggering a rare ranking shake-up among the top cryptocurrencies.
For years Ethereum has firmly held the No. 2 spot by market capitalization—even through brutal bear markets—but last week’s rout briefly changed that. As ETH’s price plunged, its market cap slipped below that of Tether’s USDT. Tether briefly sat in second place with a market cap above $186 billion while ETH dipped under that level.
The shift was short-lived: as markets bounced, ETH reclaimed the No. 2 position after prices recovered above $1,600 and Bitcoin climbed back to around $62,000. Still, the episode highlighted how precarious Ethereum’s perch can be. USDT is now less than $15 billion behind ETH in market cap, and other large tokens such as BNB and XRP have been named as potential challengers to Ethereum’s ranking.
Trading patterns point to the same rotational pressure. An X post from crypto analyst Diana showed that on the Upbeat crypto exchange, XRP’s trading volumes outpaced both Bitcoin and Ethereum—suggesting traders are reallocating capital into alternative assets as the market leaders struggle.
All of this is unfolding amid hefty sell-offs and significant liquidity withdrawal from the crypto market, making short-term support levels fragile. Market participants will be watching closely as the market opens for the new trading week Monday to see whether ETH can hold its recovery or if further volatility reshuffles the top rankings again.
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