Yes.
Bitcoin has been in a bear market since October 6, 2025, when its price peaked near $126,000. Based on drawdowns in prior bitcoin bear markets and the bear-market threshold used for traditional markets, bitcoin is definitely in a bear market.
See the live day count, the current drawdown, and a chart of every bitcoin bear market on the Bitcoin Bear Markets homepage.
Bear markets are prolonged periods of declining prices.
Investors usually define a bear market as a drop from recent highs of 20% or more, which is usually accompanied by widespread pessimism, angst or despair among market participants. Bear markets often play out over months or years.
Bitcoin bear markets are usually a little different from the definition and timeframe of a traditional bear market. Bitcoin bear markets tend to be steeper and faster. Drawdowns of 80% or more from all-time highs are not unusual, and 20% price drops have historically been so common for bitcoin that the market barely notices them.
There is no single cause.
Bear markets in stocks, commodities, crypto or other markets always share a common narrative of prices and optimism outpacing fundamentals. Bitcoin market cycles are no different in this regard. Every period of speculative mania inevitably exhausts itself, and upward price trends stall then reverse. Specific catalysts for these reversals vary every cycle, including bank failures, regulatory crackdowns, geopolitical unrest, monetary policy changes, and more.
Because 20% declines are too common.
Bitcoin is historically a highly volatile asset, which means the bear market threshold often used by traditional markets (i.e., a 20% decline over at least two months) is not useful for confirmation that bitcoin has entered a bear market phase.
Throughout bitcoin’s short history, there have been 14 months, 24 weeks, and 19 days that — measured from open to close — had price declines of -20% or worse. That’s a lot of “bear markets” according to the traditional definition.
As shown in the data indexed on this site, periods of bitcoin’s history that are widely recognized as bear markets generally include drawdowns of at least 60% that last about 90 days or more. Even though it only lasted 88 days, this site indexes the first drawdown in 2013 because the decline was severe and its duration can easily be rounded up by two days.
2011.
Bitcoin's first bear market was a 163 day period, beginning less than three years from the date it was created. After peaking around $32 in June 2011, bitcoin fell roughly -94% to about $2 in November of the same year.
2011 or 2015.
Bitcoin's first bear market in 2011 was also its worst based on the total percentage drawdown in price. After its then-all-time high around $29, the price of bitcoin fell more than 90% in less than six months.
Bitcoin's worst bear market based on length was the drawdown from 2013 to 2015, which lasted 411 days. Not only was that the longest bear market ever, but it was also the second-worst drawdown. Bitcoin's price dropped 84% during that period.
Six.
Bitcoin has survived six bear markets since its creation in 2009. To know what defines a bitcoin bear market, read this. Scroll up to see a chart with information from every bitcoin bear market, including durations, dates, and drawdowns.
Once every 3 years, approximately.
Earlier bearish market periods (i.e., in 2011 and 2013) had much shorter durations that the bear markets that followed in the 2010s and 2020s. But the more recent bear markets for bitcoin occurred every 1,060 days, on average, which is approximately once every three years.
From the end of the 2015 bear market to the start of the 2017 bear market: 1,067 days. From the end of the 2018 bear market to the start of the 2021 bear market: 1,060 days. And from the end of the 2022 bear market to the start of the 2025 bear market: 1,050 days.
About one year, usually.
Bitcoin's shortest bear market period indexed on this site lasted 88 days, and the longest lasted 411 days. Analysis of data from the three most recent bearish market periods shows that, on average, the market has bottomed roughly one year after the price peaked. In 2013, the bear market lasted 410 days. In 2017, the bear market lasted 363 days. In 2021, the bear market lasted 376 days.
Bitcoin's three most recent bear markets lasted 384 days on average, or is a little more than one year. The current bitcoin bear market remains ongoing.
Bitcoin's price moves in a repeating, cyclical pattern every four years, according to the “4-year cycle” theory.
Investors view this pattern as starting with a run to new all-time highs, a steep markdown in price during a bear market, then the price bottoms and the market gradually recovers into the next markup. These cycles are sometimes considered to be anchored to bitcoin's halving events, which happen every 210,000 blocks. But this cyclical view of asset markets is not unique to bitcoin.
In traditional markets, this theory is often represented as the “four-year” or “election cycle” phenomenon that influences the markets. There are four phases: the “election” year, the “post-election” year, the “midterm” year, and the “pre-election” year. According to this multi-year cycle view, the midterm election year tends to be the worst phase.
Nobody knows.
Bitcoin's “4-year cycle” is a market theory, not a fixed rule. The timing of bitcoin's halvings is predictable, but investor behavior, liquidity, regulation, monetary policy, and broader market conditions are not. A cycle can arrive earlier, later, or look different from prior cycles without proving that the pattern has permanently ended.
Historical cycles can provide useful context, but they cannot determine the timing or shape of bitcoin's next market cycle.
Nobody knows.
But historical patterns can serve as a useful guide. Analysis of data from the three most recent bearish market periods shows that, on average, the market has bottomed roughly one year after the price peaked. In 2013, the bear market lasted 410 days. In 2017, the bear market lasted 363 days. In 2021, the bear market lasted 376 days.
The current bitcoin bear market remains ongoing.
Yes, but like all trading and investing, profitability is not guaranteed.
There are two main ways investors try to profit from bear market: betting on lower prices or methodical accumulating. Traders can use instruments like short positions and put options to attempt to profit from falling prices. This type of trading has fundamentally different risks than buying and holding.
For long-term bitcoin investors, bear markets are opportunities to accumulate. With a regularly recurring buying plan —often called dollar-cost averaging (DCA) — investors don’t need to worry about trying to perfectly time the bottom and can take advantage of cheaper prices to buy more of an asset they have confidence is undervalued.
Bear markets may offer better prices for investors who believe bitcoin has long-term value. But that doesn't mean they should recklessly approach the market with fear, excitement, or other emotions. For some investors, a sensible approach to investing during a bitcoin bear market may look like gradual buying, keeping plenty of cash on hand, or avoiding trading or investing in bitcoin derivatives or leverage products.
Trying to predict the exact bottom of a bear market is rarely a successful or profitable endeavor even for veteran investors. Incrementally acquiring more bitcoin on recurring bases, however, has historically been a rewarding approach, especially during bear markets as shown in this chart.
Bear markets also present excellent opportunities for education. Reading or researching about bitcoin is often more satisfying for long term-focused investors during bearish periods when markets are less frothy. Tinkering with the technology and even building something that uses bitcoin is also a great bear-market activity.