HostETH vs STETH — price, size and safety, side by side
ETH (Ethereum) vs STETH (Ethereum) — every figure is the freshest dated measurement we hold for that token, never a live-feed guess. Prices stamped 2026-10-16 / 2026-10-16.
ETH vs STETH — normalized performance, 2026-09-26 to 2026-10-16T21:15:32
| ETH | STETH | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.41K | $2.46K |
| Market cap | — | $24.20B |
| 24h volume | $14.09M DEX | $6.05M DEX |
| Liquidity | $117.23M | $74.96M |
| FDV | — | $24.16B |
| Holders | — | — |
| Age (days) | 618 | 1,549 |
| Safety grade | A | B |
Where they differ
- ETH measures ~1.6× the liquidity of STETH
- ETH measures ~2.3× the 24h volume of STETH
- over the shared window ETH moved −11.4% while STETH moved −2.08%
What the data says
ETH
ETH on Ethereum — 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 — is the network's native asset carried under the null-address convention pools use for ether itself. This is not a wrapper contract: the zero address is where the feed marks the chain's own currency.
The October 9, 2026 snapshot reads $117.2 million of tracked liquidity and roughly $11.2 million of daily volume at a $2,691 unit price. Depth at this scale is the reference book the rest of the market quotes against.
STETH
stETH is the receipt that made Ethereum staking liquid — deposit ETH with Lido, receive stETH, and the balance re-bases upward daily as staking rewards accrue. The contract at 0xae7ab96520de3a18e5e111b5eaab095312d7fe84 is the canonical deployment; our October 9, 2026 snapshot reads $75.0 million of tracked pool liquidity, against only about $1.5 million of recorded daily volume in this pair set. That thin on-chain turnover is the honest kind: stETH's real exit is the redemption path through Lido itself plus deep exchange books, not the DEX pools our sampler measures.
The risk shape is the one every liquid-staking token carries: stETH is a claim on staked ETH, not ETH — it has traded visibly under par before (June 2022, when withdrawal uncertainty met a leverage unwind), and its value rests on Lido's validator set, Ethereum's exit queue, and the redemption machinery that ultimately anchors it. A rebase token also confuses some wallets, DeFi pools and tax tools — the count in your balance literally changes daily, which is exactly the friction its wrapped sibling wstETH exists to remove.
FAQ
Which is bigger, ETH or STETH?
By tracked market cap: ETH (Ethereum) measures — and STETH (Ethereum) measures $24.20B — dated snapshots, not a live feed.
Which is safer, ETH or STETH?
On the contract checks we publish: ETH (Ethereum) grades A and STETH (Ethereum) grades B. A grade is a structural check on the contract, not a promise about the asset.
How have ETH and STETH performed over the shared window?
Between 2026-09-26 and 2026-10-16T21:15:32, the measured snapshots show ETH at −11.4% and STETH at −2.08%.
The grade column is the one CMC's compare page cannot print — our grade is computed from the contract itself (mint/freeze authority, liquidity, holder concentration). Changes are measured over the shared window stated on the chart, 2026-09-26→2026-10-16T21:15:32; a token with fewer measured points measures a shorter span inside it.
Figures are dated on-chain snapshots, not a live feed. Safety grades are structural checks — not investment advice. Free · no signup · a HostDeFi product.