Ethereum climbed roughly 20% over a 24-hour period, marking its eighth-biggest single-day percentage gain for the token since January 2018. The price move pushed ETH past $2,300 before trading near $2,280, accompanied by a 24-hour trading volume that surged by 439% to approximately $32 billion, according to CoinGecko data.
Historical data compiled by analyst Jamie Coutts highlights how similar major one-day rallies have performed over time. Out of 16 completed cases where ETH gained 15% or more in a single day since 2018, only 8 were higher 30 days later. However, performance improved over longer periods, with 10 tokens higher after 90 days and 12 higher after 180 days. Average returns reached 20.6% at 90 days and 59.3% at 180 days.
The broader rally coincided with an August 19 White House crypto meeting where President Donald Trump urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act, and an August 18 SEC crypto fundraising proposal that includes exemptions and a conditional safe harbor for certain tokens. CryptoQuant contributor MorenoDV_ noted that ETH taker-buy volume reached $2.55 billion in a single hour on August 19, though the metric does not differentiate between new long positions and closing short positions.
Ethereum's performance outpaced Bitcoin over the same period, with Bitcoin gaining about 9% in 24 hours. This relative strength lifted the ETH/BTC ratio by roughly 9%. Trader Sykodelic observed that ETH moved back above its 200-day simple moving average ahead of Bitcoin, identifying the $2,400 area as the next major range level.
