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Those who got swept up in the constant hype within the crypto space might be surprised to find out that Bitcoin is on track to record its fourth-worst year to date.
The cryptocurrency's yearly returns currently stand at an underwhelming 18.45%.
Undoubtedly, such price performance is extremely lackluster, considering that the U.S. dollar is having its worst year since 1973. The greenback has plunged by roughly 9% against a basket of other major fiat currencies.
In fact, Bitcoin is up only by a minuscule 6% against the euro this year.
So far, 2025 is on track to be Bitcoin's weakest "green" year to date. Bitcoin's performance was worse only during brutal bear markets in 2014 (-58.82%), 2018 (-74.59%), and 2022 (64.21%).
Bitcoin's embarrassing underperformance
Bitcoin's best year to date was recorded in 2013 with a gain of a whopping 5,586%.
While such returns are obviously out of reach now for the $2.2 trillion asset, the flagship cryptocurrency has embarrassingly underperformed both gold and the S&P 500 index despite having a much smaller market capitalization.
Gold, which has clearly emerged as the preferred "safe haven" asset, is having its best year since 1979 with an impressive gain of more than 57%. The yellow metal recently topped the $4,200 level for the first time.
"Uptober" turns into "Floptober"
Many observers and analysts pinned their hopes on Bitcoin's strong performance in October since it tends to be the cryptocurrency's strongest month.
Bitcoin did start this October on a high note, surging to a record high of $126,272 on Oct. 6. However, the rally quickly lost steam, and cryptcurerncy plunged by a whopping 13% within days due to escalating trade conflict between the U.S. and China.
So far, Bitcoin is seemingly on track to record its first red October since 2018 (when it was in the middle of an excruciatingly brutal bear market).
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team