October is usually a time for Bitcoin to mount big gains, so much so that traders have named the month ‘Uptober.’ This year, though, the world’s largest cryptocurrency struggled. Bitcoin is down 4% over the past 30 days to nearly $110,000 on Halloween, according to data from Binance. The decline was even steeper for Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which fell about 10% to now about $3,900.
“October was a bit of a letdown for Bitcoin compared to its strong historical trend, but it’s important to keep perspective — prices have held up well overall, especially after a September that actually bucked the usual weakness,” Joel Kruger, a market strategist at LMAX Group, told Fortune.
The most recent October is the fourth worst for Bitcoin since 2013 and the worst in the past seven years, according to a Fortune analysis. The world’s largest cryptocurrency even failed to keep pace with the S&P 500, which gained roughly 2.3% this month.
Crypto’s recent struggles follow cautious remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a Wednesday press conference. After he announced that the Fed would cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, Powell indicated that it may be the last cut of 2025. “There’s a growing chorus now of feeling like maybe this is where we should at least wait a cycle,” he said.
While ending October in a slump, Bitcoin’s month started off strong with the cryptocurrency hitting a new all-time high of nearly $124,000 on Oct. 3. “Uptober is here now. Don’t sell too early. We’re about to get rich!” one crypto enthusiast posted on X.
But, on Oct. 10, the crypto markets crashed and more than $19 billion in traders’ positions evaporated in the largest crypto liquidation event ever tracked by the analytics firm CoinGlass.
The crash coincided with a threat from President Donald Trump to hit China with a 100% tariff “over and above” existing tariffs. He later walked back his aggressive rhetoric, and crypto prices stabilized — but not to early October highs.
Still, Kruger, the market strategist at LMAX Group, is optimistic that Bitcoin can regain ground in the next two months.
“Historically, Q4 has been one of the best periods for crypto performance,” Kruger said, “so we’re still looking for a potential push toward record highs in both Bitcoin and ETH [Ethereum] into year end.”
