Ethereum Diverges from Bitcoin as Glamsterdam Upgrade Targeted for October 6

Ethereum's price has pulled away from Bitcoin this week, posting a stronger 24-hour gain even as BTC slipped back under $77,000. The divergence narrowed the ETH/BTC ratio's recent slide and reflects a pattern that has shown up periodically through 2026: when broad crypto sentiment turns cautious around a macro catalyst, ether has at times held up better than bitcoin rather than falling in lockstep with it.

This is a reversal of the more typical relationship, where ETH tends to amplify bitcoin's moves in both directions rather than counter them. CoinGecko shows the gap opening through the session.

Ether's relative strength this week comes against a backdrop of renewed attention on Ethereum's protocol roadmap. Core developers have tentatively set October 6 as the target date to activate Glamsterdam, the network's next major upgrade, on the Sepolia public testnet.