Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, has been lagging behind Bitcoin (BTC). Historically, when BTC surges, altcoins tend to rally with larger upside price movements.
This time, Bitcoin has been clearly outperforming the altcoin market, particularly in December. BTC market cap dominance has recently risen to a one-year high of around 70%, largely due to the big sell-off in XRP in the past week.