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Ethereum gas costs rise to record levels in November

By Aaron Woolner

02:48, 13 December 2021

Gold ethereum coin on the background of a chart
Gold ethereum coin on the background of a chart – Photo: Shutterstock

Gas fees to execute transactions on the Ethereum network continued their rise in November to reach an average of $48.33, more than 16 times the cost to use bitcoin and way in excess of competitor smart contract blockchains. 

Bitcoin fees went below $3 for the third time in six months while fellow smart contract blockchains Cardano and XRP saw average gas fees of just $0.38 and $0.32 respectively, according to research by CryptoCompare. 

According to the research firm, the high relative cost to execute transactions on the Ethereum network has long term implications for the blockchain. 

High fees pose problem for ETH

“[High gas fees] provide a large obstacle for an increase in adoption of the asset compared to other cryptocurrencies with lower fees,” the firm said in its monthly report. 

The rapid rise in the Solana blockchain slowed slightly last month, with what CryptoCompare terms the Total Value Locked (TVL) in its ecosystem growing 15.8% to hit $14.4bn ($12.7bn). 

While this still represents an all-time high in TVL for the blockchain this level of expansion is way below the 111% average it posted monthly between July and October. 

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DOGE/USD

0.40 Price
+5.050% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.0012872

BTC/USD

99,049.95 Price
+4.780% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 106.00

ADA/USD

0.90 Price
+9.550% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00646

XRP/USD

1.42 Price
+26.260% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0616%
Short position overnight fee 0.0137%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.01168

Most major coins lost value last month

Solana’s TVL is also still way behind Ethereum’s which grew 8.60% to $178bn in November, despite the high cost of executing transactions on the network.

According to CryptoCompare, ETH was the best performing asset out of the largest cryptocurrencies in November, returning 7.9% throughout the month, followed by solana at 2.8%. 

All other major coins fell in November, with BTC, XRP and ADA returning -7.1%, -10.2% and -21.0% respectively. 

High crypto volatility    

While the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation have seen strong returns so far this year, with all digital coins returning over 95%, this has been accompanied by high levels of realised volatility.

In November SOL saw realised volatility of 105%, while bitcoin’s levels hit 65%. In comparison, the S&P500 and NASDAQ indices experienced realised volatility of 15.6% and 19.4% respectively.

Read more: Digital asset market expands to include Islamic cryptos

Markets in this article

ADA/USD
Cardano / USD
0.90082 USD
0.07735 +9.550%
ADA/USD
Cardano / USD
0.90082 USD
0.07735 +9.550%
ADA/USD
Cardano / USD
0.90082 USD
0.07735 +9.550%
ETH/USD
Ethereum / USD
3408.35 USD
342.01 +11.100%
US500
US 500
5947.5 USD
32.7 +0.550%

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The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
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