Rough Week Erases Most of Crypto’s 2025 Gains

Bitcoin just had one of its worst weeks since spring, which feels appropriately grim, given we’re back to 5 p.m. sunsets.

The No. 1 cryptocurrency by market cap lost about $300 billion in value as of Friday afternoon after earlier that week dropping below $100,000 for the first time since June. Only a month ago, bitcoin was sitting pretty at an all-time high of more than $126,000. 

Other cryptocurrencies retreated in turn, with ether falling to about $3,100 and solana plummeting to $150. Crypto-related stocks including Coinbase and Robinhood also dropped during the week. 

Red October, Yellow November

Investors dubbed last month “Red October” after crypto prices crashed, erasing much of their year-to-date gains. On October 6, CoinGecko found all cryptos combined were worth nearly $4.4 trillion, a record high. The red part came days later, when investors exited $19 billion worth of leveraged positions. Since then, crypto has struggled to regain investors’ confidence, and as of Friday afternoon, the asset class was down 20% from its peak. That trimmed its year-to-date gains to about 2.5%.

The same pressures that hamper the broader economy (like the ongoing government shutdown) weigh on crypto, but what causes tremors for other sectors can mean an earthquake in crypto:

• Digital assets can’t escape their riskier reputation, so while investors have, for the most part, bought the dip for tech stocks when they’ve slid, they seem more reluctant to pick up the slack in crypto. Open interest in bitcoin futures, or the number of outstanding bitcoin futures contracts, fell $25 billion from its October high last week, according to Coinglass data. Investing firm Galaxy Digital, meanwhile, cut its expectations for bitcoin’s closing price this year from $185,000 to $120,000. 
• At the same time, traders have put up resistance to letting cryptos lose their grip on major pricing footholds, like $100,000 for bitcoin and $3,000 for ether.

Feeling Frosty: While digital assets are feeling the chill, it’s too early to say it’s the start of a full-blown crypto winter. Bitwise’s CIO said that while retail investors cool on crypto, institutional investors could keep the market warm. In a sign of institutional interest, Ripple (the company behind XRP, a token that has at times beaten ether to be the second-largest crypto by market cap) said Wednesday it raised $500 million in a funding round led by Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities. Plus, JPMorgan analysts said Friday that the worst of the deleveraging crisis is behind crypto, and bitcoin could hit $170,000 within a year.