U.S. Ethereum ETFs Reach Record Trading Volumes Amid Market Plunge

The nine U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds generated record trading volumes on Monday amid the crypto market price plunge following President Trump’s trade tariff announcements over the weekend.

The Ethereum ETFs posted $1.5 billion in trading volume on February 3, 23% greater than their previous record of $1.22 billion set on December 19, and the largest since their $1.11 billion volume on their July 23 launch day, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

BlackRock’s ETHA product led with trading volumes of $736 million, followed by Grayscale’s converted ETHE fund with $415 million and Fidelity’s FETH with $155 million, reflecting their respective market shares by the metric. Cumulative U.S. spot Ethereum ETF volume currently stands at nearly $22 billion.

Trump Tariff Turmoil

Responding to President Trump’s plan to implement 25% tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico, and 10% tariffs on Canadian energy and Chinese goods, Ether was one of the hardest hit cryptocurrencies, collapsing by approximately 36% to a low of around $2,100 on Monday from its Saturday high. Bitcoin fell more than 10% to a low of around $91,500 before recovering. Meanwhile, Solana’s price fell 24% and memecoins, including Trump’s own official token, dropped 40% on average, according to the GMCI Meme index.

Ether is currently trading for $2,819, per The Block’s Ethereum Price Page, having rebounded by more than 30% since Monday’s low alongside the rest of the market. The recovery followed reports that new U.S. tariffs on Mexico and Canada will be paused for a month after an agreement between the respective governments.

However, U.S. tariffs on China are still set to go into effect, with China’s finance ministry retaliating, stating on Tuesday that it will impose an additional 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas and an additional 10% on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and certain vehicles from February 10, causing the crypto market to slip once again.

Despite Monday’s price declines, the U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs still managed to attract net inflows of $83.6 million yesterday—the most since January 16. Fidelity’s FETH led the inflows with $49.7 million, followed by Grayscale’s ETHE and ETH products, then 21Shares’ CETH, adding $15.9 million, $12.8 million, and $5.2 million, respectively.

A Different Picture for Bitcoin ETFs

Meanwhile, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $6 billion in overall trading volume on Monday, significantly lower than the $9.5 billion witnessed on January 23 and the $9.9 billion generated at their March 5, 2024 peak. Cumulative Bitcoin ETF volumes have reached almost $725 billion since their January 2024 launch.

However, unlike their Ethereum counterparts, the Bitcoin ETFs saw $234.4 million in net outflows on Monday, the worst since the DeepSeek-fueled market dislocation on January 27.