The price correlation between Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) has dipped below 80% for the first time since November 2021, new data from crypto researcher Kaiko shows.

According to Kaiko’s data, the correlation between the two largest digital assets dipped to around 78% last week, marking to lowest correlation between BTC and ETH in 18 months.

A lower price correlation between two assets means that the price of the assets moves in different directions more often than before.

Conversely, a higher correlation would mean that prices more often move in the same direction.

Kaiko’s latest data, in other words, shows that BTC and ETH prices don’t follow each other as closely as they used to.

The finding was shared by Kaiko on Twitter last Friday:

The falling correlation is important to take note of for traders, and in particular for algorithmic traders who use certain hedging strategies between the two assets.

Trend could continue until more ETH is released

Back in April, analysts David Duong and Brian Cubellis at Coinbase said in a market update that correlation between BTC and ETH had been on the decline for some time.

“Performances between these two digital assets have otherwise maintained a fairly stable and high correlation through 2022 into 2023 with the previous noticeable exception of the period immediately following the Merge,” the analysts wrote at the time.

They added that there is reason to believe that the trend will continue until more staked ETH tokens have been released.

“We think the current period of attenuation could last through this first phase of ETH withdrawals,” they wrote.

Unchanged ETH/BTC price 

Notably, a lower correlation between BTC and ETH means that the ETH/BTC trading pair is more volatile than before.

And while that has certainly been the case, it’s interesting to note that the ETH/BTC price stood at approximately the same level 18 months ago – the last time the correlation was at this level – as it does today: around 0.066 BTC per ETH.