Ethereum price jumps above $2,400: why Ether is outpacing Bitcoin after the US midterms

The Ethereum price jumped above $2,400 on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. In the afternoon, Ether cost around $2,421 according to CoinGecko, roughly €2,155, up 5.4 percent from 24 hours earlier. The rise is part of a broad recovery after election night in the US, but it is markedly stronger for Ether than for Bitcoin, which gained 3.6 percent over the same period to just over $80,300.

For investors in Germany, this is a day when the details are worth a closer look: where the momentum is coming from, which chart levels now matter and what buying or selling in this environment means for tax and custody. This article puts the numbers in context without forecasting a direction.

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Ethereum price on November 4: from $2,245 to $2,421 in twelve hours

The day started weakly. Overnight, as the first results of the congressional elections came in, the Ether price slipped to around $2,245 at 3 a.m. UTC; CoinGecko recorded the 24-hour low at $2,226. After that, the price turned higher. By 9 a.m. UTC, Ether stood at about $2,320, and in the early afternoon it hovered around $2,310. The real jump came with the Wall Street open: between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. UTC, the price climbed from just over $2,310 to above $2,420.

Measured from the overnight low, Ether has thus recovered almost 8 percent within twelve hours. Over seven days, CoinGecko shows a gain of 3.9 percent, while over 30 days it is still down about 10.5 percent. The recovery is strong, then, but does little yet to reverse the decline since early October.

A word of context: trading volume is the sum of all purchases and sales of a coin over a period. For Ether, it was around $14.3 billion over the past 24 hours according to CoinGecko, with market capitalisation at just under $296 billion.

US midterms and the stock market: the trigger for the recovery

Politics set the backdrop. In the congressional elections of November 3, the Democrats won the majority in Congress, according to consistent reports. Bitcoin briefly fell to around $75,600 on election night at 3 a.m. UTC, according to CoinDesk, and recovered afterwards. US stock futures also turned positive early on Wednesday.

According to Cointelegraph, S&P 500 futures initially fell as low as 7,490 points, the lowest level since July 31, and then rose to 7,690 points. At the Wall Street open, Bitcoin returned above $80,000. At the same time, the oil price fell: US crude WTI slipped below $93 a barrel, a weekly decline of up to 11.9 percent.

James Butterfill, head of research at asset manager CoinShares, said according to Cointelegraph that real yields, dollar liquidity and inflows into exchange-traded products carried more weight for Bitcoin than the elections. A lower oil price could dampen inflationary pressure and temper expectations of further rate hikes. That is an assessment, not a firm forecast, but it explains why the market put election night behind it within a few hours.

Ether vs Bitcoin: the ETH/BTC ratio rises 2.2 percent

The ETH/BTC ratio shows how many Bitcoin one Ether is worth. When it rises, Ether is performing better than Bitcoin. In the afternoon it stood at 0.0302 according to CoinGecko, 2.2 percent higher than the previous day.

Among the large coins, Ether was the strongest performer on Wednesday. Chainlink and Cardano each gained just under 4 percent according to CoinGecko, XRP and Solana just under 3 percent, and BNB around 2 percent. Applications on the Ethereum blockchain also picked up: CoinDesk's DeFi index, which bundles the large protocols for decentralised financial services, rose about 5 percent in the morning, making it the strongest group in the market.

There is no single documented piece of news that on its own explains Ether's lead. CoinDesk gives no specific reason for the rise beyond the general recovery. Experience shows that Ether reacts more strongly than Bitcoin in recovery phases because the coin is more volatile; as a cause for this particular day, however, that is an interpretation, not evidence.

Liquidations and open interest: new positions rather than a pure short squeeze

A liquidation is the forced closure of a leveraged position when the collateral posted is no longer sufficient. In rapid upward price moves, it mainly hits short positions, that is, bets on falling prices. On the morning of November 4, CoinDesk reported liquidations across all derivatives exchanges of $469 million over 24 hours, up 22 percent from the previous day.

That is well below $1 billion, a level reached only on genuine sell-off or squeeze days. A second number matters more: open interest, the value of all open futures contracts, rose 4.2 percent for Ether according to CoinDesk, while the price was up 2.7 percent at that point. When price and open positions rise together, new money is flowing into the market. The rise is therefore not based only on short positions having to be closed out.

Options market and funding rate: caution beneath the surface

The funding rate is a balancing payment between buyers and sellers of futures contracts with no expiry, known as perpetuals. When it is positive, buyers pay. According to CoinDesk, it was positive for Bitcoin and Ether on Wednesday, meaning most of the derivatives market was betting on rising prices.

The options market, by contrast, showed caution. Of the six most traded Ether options, four were puts, that is, hedges against falling prices, according to CoinDesk, while calls dominated for Bitcoin. Some investors are evidently using the rise to protect themselves against a setback.

The mood is reflected in the Fear and Greed Index from alternative.me, which condenses market data into a number between 0 and 100: it rose from 26 the previous day to 34, but remains in fear territory.

Chart levels for Ether: $2,350, $2,473 and $2,506

A moving average is the mean of closing prices over a fixed number of days. It smooths out swings and serves many traders as a trend line. According to cryptoticker.io calculations based on CoinGecko daily closing prices, Ether's 20-day average is around $2,351 and its 50-day average around $2,506.

That gives three levels. On the downside, the zone around $2,350 is the first support, followed by the election-night low around $2,230. If the price falls below that, the $2,000 level we reported on on November 3 comes back into view. On the upside, the next level is the daily close of October 22 at around $2,473, then the 50-day average at $2,506. Only a close above that would formally break the downtrend that has been in place since early October.

Chart levels are reference points, not guarantees. Especially after a day with an 8 percent range between low and high, they can quickly be crossed in either direction.

Buying Ether with a MiCA licence: how to buy in Germany

If you want to buy or add to your position after the rise, start by checking the trading venue. Since the EU's MiCA regulation took effect, crypto service providers in the EU need authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider, or CASP. Whether a provider has it is shown in the public register of the European securities regulator ESMA. You can find an overview of providers with this authorisation in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

On days with big swings, order types also matter. A limit order sets the maximum price at which you buy. A market order is executed at the current price, which in fast phases can differ significantly from the last price displayed. Buying in stages spreads the risk of a poor entry across several dates.

Holding period and staking: the tax side of buying Ether

In Germany, gains from selling Ether are tax-free as a private disposal transaction if more than a year passes between purchase and sale. If you sell within this holding period, the gain is taxed at your personal income tax rate, provided all private disposal gains for the year together reach the €1,000 exemption limit. Buying today therefore starts a new one-year period for exactly these coins.

Staking means locking up Ether to help secure the Ethereum blockchain and receiving rewards in return. Under the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of May 10, 2022, staking does not extend the holding period to ten years. The rewards themselves, however, count as other income when received. If you make several purchases at different prices, you need a clean record of which units were bought when; without that documentation, your tax return quickly turns into guesswork.

Leveraged products and liquidation: the risk in fast swings

Wednesday shows how quickly leveraged positions can flip. Almost 8 percent lay between the overnight low and the afternoon level. With 10x leverage, a 10 percent move against the position mathematically means losing the entire collateral; depending on the exchange and fees, liquidation kicks in even earlier.

If you trade futures, you should therefore know the leverage, the liquidation price and the current funding rate before opening a position. For most retail investors, buying without leverage is the clearer route, because a price drop then only reduces the book value and does not trigger a forced closure.

Storing Ether: exchange account or hardware wallet

Holding Ether in an exchange account is convenient, but the exchange holds the private keys. A hardware wallet is a small device that stores the keys offline and only releases transactions after you confirm them on the device. For larger amounts meant to be held beyond the one-year holding period, it is the obvious choice for many investors.

One important point when moving funds: the seed phrase, the sequence of words used to restore the wallet, belongs only on paper or metal, never in a cloud service or a chat. A small test transfer before the actual transaction costs little and protects against a wrongly copied address.

Ether at $2,421: the trend only turns above $2,506

Ether has digested election night faster than Bitcoin and posted the strongest rise among the large coins on Wednesday. Rising open interest points to fresh money, the many puts in the options market to caution. Whether the recovery becomes a trend reversal will be decided in the zone around $2,500. Three steps help you sort out the situation for your own portfolio:

1. Check the venue: buy only from a provider with a MiCA licence and use limit orders in big swings. Our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges gives an overview.
2. Record purchase dates: every purchase starts its own one-year holding period. A crypto tax tool automatically matches purchases, sales and staking income.
3. Settle custody: holdings you plan to keep for longer belong in your own wallet. Our hardware wallet comparison shows which devices are suitable.

(As of November 4, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)