Ethereum Reclaims Top 100 Asset Status as Market Cap Surges
Ethereum (ETH)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
cryptobriefing.com reports that Ethereum has climbed from the 100th to the 61st spot among global assets by market capitalization. This move highlights the asset's ongoing recovery throughout 2026, pushing it past major corporations in the global wealth hierarchy. In early July, ETH traded between the 93rd and 95th positions with a market cap of roughly $215B to $216B. It had previously slipped below the top 100 threshold in late June when its valuation hovered around $192B to $197B. At that lower point, ETH ranked alongside companies like SoftBank and Shell in terms of market value.
Earlier in the year, on January 31, ETH reached as high as the 56th global rank with a market cap of approximately $305B. A sharp 14.43% weekly decline subsequently knocked it down several rungs from that peak. By mid-September, prices traded between $2,500 and $2,600, with the market cap crossing back above $300B. This recovery was fueled by U.S. inflation data shifting broader risk sentiment rather than any specific network upgrade. The circulating supply of ETH grew from approximately 120.68 million tokens in early July to around 122 million by September.
Bitcoin maintained a ranking of around 15th during the same period, illustrating the gap between the two largest crypto assets. The swings in 2026 highlight how sensitive ETH remains to macroeconomic signals like interest rate expectations.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ETH, measured when this story was written up on 12 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio spot data shows ETH trading at $2,516.43 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 50.4%, indicating balanced to slightly bullish sentiment over the full day. However, shorter-term pressure shows signs of fading, with the 1-hour buy ratio at 48.7% and the 4-hour ratio dropping to 42.7%. Volume delta reflects this shift, showing a net outflow of -$234,792 in the last hour and -$7,222,067 over four hours, contrasting with a positive 24-hour delta of +$13,073,817. The Cumulative Volume Delta closed at +$29,482,043, suggesting that while recent hours saw selling pressure, the day ended with net buying dominance. Net buying occurred for only 7 out of 24 hours, indicating that aggressive accumulation was not consistent throughout the session. Spot volume reached $1,625,504,457 with over 4.4 million trades executed.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.8% sits at the 16th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.5% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ETH, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Comparing today's activity to the preceding week reveals a day of significantly higher engagement, with volume running at 2.40 times the weekly average. The buy ratio for the day was 48.7%, which is 1.7 percentage points higher than the 7-day average of 48.7%, showing a slight increase in buying intensity relative to recent trends. Despite this volume spike, net buying was sparse, with only 1 of the past 7 days recording net buying pressure. The total volume delta over the preceding 8 days was -$123,442,894, indicating that the recent price increase of 2.5% occurred despite a broader weekly trend of net outflows. This suggests that while today was an unusual day in terms of volume, it did not break the weekly pattern of net selling pressure.