As Ethereum continues to garner investor interest, outpacing Bitcoin in key metrics, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has continued to contend with the world’s largest cryptocurrency on the CME derivatives market.
According to recent data shared by the CME Group, Ethereum futures have significantly surpassed Bitcoin futures in derivatives trading activity.
Ethereum Futures sets new record in open interest
Data provided by the source shows that Ether futures on the leading derivatives exchange have outpaced Bitcoin futures in monthly average daily volume (ADV) since April 2025.
While Ethereum has been in the spotlight this year, with institutions diverting from Bitcoin to owning an Ethereum treasury, its outstanding performance on the CME derivatives exchange further signifies rising institutional demand for Ethereum exposure.
Amid the growing interest among institutions, CME further revealed that open interest in ETH futures has reached a massive 53,183 contracts, while Micro Ether futures climbed to a record 335,016 contracts as of October 28, both setting new all-time highs.
The Bitcoin and Ether futures “monthly average daily volume (ADV)” disclosed by the exchange show that ETH’s trading volume broke above BTC’s for the first time in April 2025, and it has continued to lead the crypto king since that time. Notably, the move signals a growing divergence in market focus from Bitcoin to Ethereum.
While Bitcoin futures activity has leveled off after a strong first half of the year, Ethereum’s momentum has remained resilient as it continues to build—attributable to the growth in DeFi, staking yields, and surging optimism of further institutional adoption of the leading altcoin.
Bitcoin maintains dominance
Despite the impressive performance witnessed in Ethereum’s futures activity, Bitcoin still maintains its dominance across the broad spot trading market.
Data provided by CoinMarketCap shows that Bitcoin still holds the highest market share in the broad cryptocurrency market. As such, Bitcoin's total market capitalization is currently higher than the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined by a massive 59.2%.
This shows that Bitcoin has seen a mild increase of 0.87% in its dominance rate over the last 24 hours despite the recurring price corrections.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team