Ether 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. That 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.