Bitcoin On Track For First Back-To-Back Losing Octobers In Over A Decade As ‘Downtober’ Continues

Bitcoin (BTC) was on track for its first consecutive October decline, with Bankless co-founder David Hoffman calling Friday “the third week of Downtober.”October has long been one of Bitcoin's best months. Its average October return was about 18.3%, and its median is about 12.7%, according to CoinGlass data. Before last year, the month had ended lower only twice, in 2014 and 2018.YearMonthly Returns In October2026-2.48%2025-3.69%2024+10.76%2023+28.52%2022+5.56%2021+39.93%2020+27.7%2019+10.17%2018-3.83%2017+47.81%2016+14.71%Source: Coinglass.Last October started on a high. Bitcoin hit its all-time high of about $126,000 early in the month, before a crash on October 10 erased those gains. This year it has been different. The world's largest cryptocurrency was down over 2% so far this month. It also fell more than 3% last October. Bitcoin has not posted two red Octobers in a row in more than 10 years, with its highest gain in October being in 2017.Bankless co-founders Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams discussed that Bitcoin climbed into October from the $60,000s, rather than falling from a record. "The direction of travel is quite different," one of them said.This Week's SlideBitcoin dipped to around $80,000 this week, its lowest level since September 18. It is down about 7% for the year. The selling had been heavier in altcoins, where Ethereum (ETH) fell about 7.5% over the week, the hosts said, while tokens like Solana (SOL), Zchas (ZEC), Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near Protocol (NEAR) dropped another 10% after double-digit losses the week before.'They Feel Sideways'The hosts argued that a choppy market fits an early bull run. They pointed to 2023, when Bitcoin spent about seven months moving sideways and suffered two 17% pullbacks. Through that stretch, Bitcoin held above its 50-week moving average."So that's kind of the way early bull markets feel. They feel sideways," Adams said. Neither expected Bitcoin to fall below its low from a few months ago. "We have broken the back of the bear market," Adams added.Bitcoin's monthly returns have swung widely this year. CoinGlass data showed it fell about 10% in January, 15% in February, and 20% in June, but gained about 25% in August.