Bitcoin Faces First Back-to-Back Annual Losses in History, But There's a Catch

In brief

• Bitcoin lost 6.34% in 2025 and is down roughly 16% in 2026, putting it on track for its first two consecutive negative calendar years.
• The combined decline is around 21%, far smaller than Bitcoin's 74% crash in 2018 or 64% drop in 2022.
• Bitcoin has suffered a much deeper decline from its 2025 peak, even as its calendar-year performance looks relatively mild.

Bitcoin is flirting with a historical first that bulls probably don’t want to hear: Two consecutive years of losses, something the cryptocurrency has never experienced in its 18-year history.

The world's largest cryptocurrency finished 2025 down 6.34% and has lost another 15.65% so far in 2026, trading around $73,850 on November 10. If Bitcoin fails to recover above its annual opening price of roughly $87,500 before December 31, it will close two calendar years in the red for the first time.

Historical annual returns show Bitcoin has experienced several brutal crashes since its creation, but each negative calendar year has been followed by a positive one. Even the disastrous 2018 and 2022 bear markets failed to produce consecutive annual losses.

The historical pattern is clear. Its significance, however, deserves a closer look.