Ethereum pushed above $4,500 on Tuesday while Solana hit $190, as Bitcoin pulled back from the $120,000 level to trade around $119,222, according to data from CoinGecko.
On OKX, SOL briefly traded at $191 before slipping slightly. The moves set the tone for a trading day where ETH and SOL showed stronger price momentum than BTC.
ETH’s climb brings it closer to its all-time high of $4,878.26, reached in November 2021 during the pandemic bull run driven by DeFi activity, NFT sales, and the growth of organizations on the Ethereum chain.
Ethereum gains strength from treasury purchases and ETF inflows
Year-to-date, Ethereum has now outpaced Bitcoin in price growth. Over a 12-month period, BTC still leads in performance. The rise in ETH’s value has coincided with heavy buying by Ethereum treasury companies, which have accumulated more than $9 billion worth of the crypto in recent months.
Geoffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered said these firms are “just getting started” and could eventually hold as much as 10% of all ETH in existence.
On Tuesday, BitMine filed to expand its at-the-market equity program to $24.5 billion to help fund further ETH purchases. BitMine is already the largest Ethereum treasury holder, with 1.15 million ETH valued at roughly $5 billion at current prices.
Rising interest in spot Ethereum ETFs has also supported the rally. Over the last month, these products added about $5 billion to their combined market cap, bringing total net inflows since launching in July 2024 to $9.4 billion. On Monday, daily net inflows surpassed $1 billion for the first time, marking a record for the ETF market segment tied to ETH.
Solana sees derivatives surge after Upexi brings in Arthur Hayes
Solana’s price strength followed a major announcement from Upexi, one of its top treasury investors. On August 12, the company appointed Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and a key market figure, to its crypto strategy advisory committee.
Arthur is the first member of Upexi’s Solana-focused advisory group. The company currently holds 1.9 million SOL and says the appointment will help reinforce its leadership in Solana treasury management.
The market reacted quickly. Solana futures open interest rose 1.97% to $10.18 billion intraday, crossing the $10 billion threshold for the first time this month. This move came as SOL recovered from a local low of $175 earlier in the day.
Derivatives activity also picked up. Futures volume grew 5.46% to $29.2 billion, and options open interest jumped 27.88% to $12.81 million, pointing to fresh capital entering Solana’s markets, according to data from Coinglass.
On-chain metric the STH-NUPL (Net Unrealized Profit/Loss) stands at 0.093, close to the level seen between May 10–13, when SOL corrected from $183 to $131, meaning that many short-term holders are in the “hope/fear” zone, where selling to lock in profits becomes a stronger temptation.
