Bitcoin ended October 2025 down 8.5%, breaking a six-year streak of monthly gains known as Uptober. A mid-month sell-off triggered by U.S. tariff threats on China led to sharp declines and massive liquidations. While most major cryptocurrencies fell, BNB and a few altcoins like ZEC, XMR, and WBTC finished higher.
October 2025 marked a departure from bitcoin's historical pattern, closing 8.5% lower according to CoinDesk Data. This snapped the six-year "Uptober" run, as shown on CoinGlass’s Bitcoin Monthly Returns heat-map, with the first red October since 2018 ending a green streak from 2019 through 2024.
The downturn began on October 10, when President Donald Trump threatened steep new tariffs on China amid rare-earth tensions, sparking a broad risk-off move. Bitcoin slid from roughly the low $120,000s toward about $105,000 in fast trade. Over October 10–11, derivatives venues auto-liquidated an estimated tens of billions of dollars in positions, with more than half a trillion dollars in market value evaporating before a shaky rebound.
TradingView's one-month charts illustrated the pattern: bitcoin started firm, suffered a mid-October jolt, then climbed in the back half without retaking early peaks. Ether, Solana, and XRP followed a similar arc, with late rebounds failing to flip resistance into support, resulting in red monthly candles.
BNB stood out among top-10 cryptocurrencies, absorbing the downdraft and closing October about 4.2% higher. Outside the top 10, ZEC, XMR, and WBTC also finished up, highlighting pockets of strength amid the broader decline.
The event underscores that seasonality, while a tendency, is not a promise. As traders eye November, analyst Lark Davis noted it as bitcoin’s strongest month with a 42.5% average gain since 2013, though the median is about 9%, heavily influenced by 2013’s 449% outlier. November outcomes vary widely, including losses in 2021 and 2022, and gains in 2024, with "Moonvember" hype building on social platforms like X as context rather than a signal.