Bitcoin remained steady near the $114,000 level as traders looked ahead to the weekly close, with market sentiment shifting toward Ether’s sharp rally.
Data showed BTC/USD drifting lower through the weekend after Friday’s surge to nearly $117,500, a move triggered by remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Speaking at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, Powell hinted that interest-rate cuts were likely to resume in September, fueling optimism across risk assets.
Bitcoin benefited from the momentum but failed to reclaim new highs, leaving traders more focused on Ethereum’s performance.
Ether Pushes Toward Record Territory
Ethereum surged past $4,900, marking a new all-time high and shifting market attention away from Bitcoin.
Popular trader BitBull told followers on X that the weekly close would be critical for ETH.
“$ETH is attempting a strong weekly close above $4,600. This’ll be a major confirmation that it’s not a bull trap,” he said.
“If ETH manages a weekly close above $4.6K, that’ll mark the highest weekly close ever. Also, it’ll set the stage for the next leg up towards $5,200-$5,500 by next week.”
Market data also highlighted whale activity favoring Ether.
Analytics platform Lookonchain flagged a series of transactions showing long-dormant Bitcoin being swapped for ETH, suggesting major investors were rotating capital into the altcoin.
BitBull noted that demand from whales remained strong despite the rapid climb.
“Despite the ETH rally of 300%+ in 4 months, whales aren’t slowing down,” he added.
“It seems like the rally isn’t done yet.”
CME Futures Gaps Influence Market Outlook
Beyond price action, traders closely tracked futures markets.
Analyst Rekt Capital pointed out that ETH/USD had filled a gap in CME Group’s Ether futures chart, a move seen as technically significant.
Bitcoin traders, meanwhile, were monitoring their own set of CME gaps created over the weekend.
“$BTC Slow weekend in general which was to be expected after Friday’s massive rally across the board,” trader Daan Crypto Trades commented.
“If BTC were to open up like this tomorrow, we’ll have a pretty sizeable gap. You’ve probably seen the track record these gaps have been on where we’ve closed pretty much all of them on Monday or didn’t even open up with a gap in the first place.”
Cautious Optimism Across Markets
The latest movements show a clear divergence between the two largest cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum is drawing attention with record-breaking gains, while Bitcoin is consolidating below its recent highs.
For many traders, the outcome of the weekly close will set the tone for the coming days.
Whether Bitcoin follows Ethereum higher or continues to lag could determine sentiment across the broader crypto market as September approaches.