On 23 October 2026 bitcoin traded at about $81,546. That is roughly 35% below its all-time high of $126,198.07, set on 6 October 2025, and about 26% below its price a year earlier (Fortune). Its first quote in dollars came in October 2009: an early pricing website valued $1 at 1,309.03 BTC, or about $0.00076 per coin. Since then bitcoin has gone through four large boom-and-bust cycles. In each one it set a record high and then fell by roughly half or more.
Where the price stands now (October 2026)
- Price: $81,546.37 at 7:15 a.m. ET on 23 October 2026. A month earlier it was $86,445.52 and a year earlier $110,086.49 (Fortune).
- Market value: about $1.33 trillion (Fortune, 23 October 2026).
- ETF flows: on 22 October 2026, US spot bitcoin ETFs had $635.6 million in net outflows. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $254.1 million of that (data compiled by The Block).
- The 2026 low: on 4 February 2026 bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time in about 15 months, with a low of $69,821 in New York trading (Bloomberg). On 5 February it reached about $60,256 on CoinGecko data (Forbes). That was a drop of more than 50% in four months.
So the market is still recovering from the decline that began after the October 2025 peak. By 23 October 2026 the price had recovered about a third of the drop from that peak.
Bitcoin price milestones at a glance
| Date | Event | Price (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Jan 2009 | Genesis block mined | No market price |
| 5 Oct 2009 | First published USD rate ($1 = 1,309.03 BTC) | $0.00076 |
| 22 May 2010 | 10,000 BTC paid for two pizzas | ~$0.0041 |
| 27 Nov 2013 | First move above $1,000 (on the largest exchange of the time) | $1,000 |
| 17 Dec 2017 | Cycle peak | $19,783 |
| 15 Dec 2018 | Bear-market low | $3,122 |
| 12 Mar 2020 | Pandemic sell-off | below $4,000 |
| 10 Nov 2021 | Cycle peak | ~$69,000 |
| 22 Nov 2022 | Two-year low after an exchange collapse | $15,480 |
| 10 Jan 2024 | SEC approves spot bitcoin ETPs | n/a |
| 13–14 Mar 2024 | New record on ETF demand | ~$73,664–$73,750 |
| 20 Apr 2024 | Fourth halving (block 840,000) | n/a |
| 5 Dec 2024 | First move above $100,000 | $100,000 |
| 6 Oct 2025 | All-time high | $126,198 |
| 5 Feb 2026 | 2026 low | ~$60,256 |
| 23 Oct 2026 | Latest reading | $81,546 |
Peak and low prices differ by a few hundred dollars between data providers and exchanges. The table uses the figures given in the cited reports.
What sets the price: supply schedule and demand
The fixed supply and the halving
The protocol caps issuance just below 21 million BTC (bitcoin.org; Bitcoin Wiki). New coins enter circulation through the block subsidy, which miners receive in the generation transaction of each block. The subsidy halves every 210,000 blocks, which takes about four years:
| Halving | Date | Block | Subsidy per block |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | 3 Jan 2009 | 0 | 50 BTC |
| 1st | 28 Nov 2012 | 210,000 | 25 BTC |
| 2nd | 9 Jul 2016 | 420,000 | 12.5 BTC |
| 3rd | 11 May 2020 | 630,000 | 6.25 BTC |
| 4th | 20 Apr 2024 | 840,000 | 3.125 BTC |
Under the same schedule, the next halving will happen at block 1,050,000. At the current block pace that should be around 2028. The exact date depends on how fast blocks are found.
Each of the cycle peaks in 2013, 2017, 2021 and 2025 came 12 to 18 months after a halving. That timing is a historical pattern, not a rule. The supply side is known in advance, so the halving explains only part of the price. The rest comes from demand, which is what moved most in each cycle.
Demand: from retail to funds
Demand has changed character over time:
- 2010–2013: a few hobbyists and early traders, mostly on one dominant exchange.
- 2017: a retail rush alongside the boom in initial coin offerings.
- 2020–2021: central-bank stimulus after the pandemic, plus public companies buying bitcoin for their balance sheets.
- 2024 onward: regulated funds. On 10 January 2024 the SEC "approved the listing and trading of a number of spot bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) shares". In the same statement, Chair Gary Gensler said the approval did not endorse bitcoin. Inflows into these funds drove the March 2024 record. Daily inflows passed $1 billion for the first time on 12 March 2024, according to Bloomberg data.
Fund flows now work in both directions. Inflows supported the 2024 rally, and outflows were part of the February 2026 sell-off and the 22 October 2026 decline.
How far bitcoin fell after each peak
How deep was each bear market, measured from the cycle peak to the low that followed?
Data table
| Item | % | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2017 to Dec 2018 ($19,783 to $3,122) | 84 | |
| Nov 2021 to Nov 2022 (~$69,000 to $15,480) | 78 | |
| Oct 2025 to Feb 2026 ($126,198 to ~$60,256) | 52 |
This shows only three peak-to-low falls taken from the cited reports. It leaves out the 2013–2015 cycle and the 2020 one-day crash, does not show whether the 2026 low was the bottom of this cycle, and does not predict future prices.
The cycles, one by one
2009–2013: no market, then the first $1,000
The genesis block is dated 3 January 2009. It contains the headline "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." The first published dollar rate, on 5 October 2009, was not set by trading. Its author worked it out from the electricity cost of mining. On 22 May 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz reported on the Bitcointalk forum that he had paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas. The coins were worth about $41 at the time.
Bitcoin passed $1,000 for the first time on 27 November 2013. Prices on other exchanges were lower that day, and some put the first crossing on 19 or 28 November.
2014–2015: the first big exchange failure
On 28 February 2014 the largest bitcoin exchange of the time filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan. It said it might have lost about 750,000 customer bitcoins and about 100,000 of its own. It later said it had found 200,000 of them. The collapse helped start a long bear market. Bitcoin did not regain its 2013 high until 2017.
2016–2018: ICO boom and an 84% fall
The second halving came in July 2016. In 2017, retail buying and initial coin offerings pushed bitcoin to $19,783 on 17 December 2017. Twelve months later it was near $3,122 (15 December 2018), a drop of about 84%.
2019–2022: pandemic crash, institutional buying, another collapse
On 12 March 2020 the price fell almost 50% in a day, to below $4,000, during the pandemic sell-off. The third halving followed in May 2020. Stimulus and corporate buying then lifted bitcoin to a record of about $69,000 on 10 November 2021. Peak figures vary by source, from $68,991 to $69,096.
In 2022 a series of failures among heavily borrowed crypto firms ended with a major exchange collapsing in November. Bitcoin hit $15,480 on 22 November 2022, about 78% below the 2021 peak.
2023–2025: ETFs, $100,000 and a record
Spot ETF approval in January 2024 brought regular fund demand. Bitcoin set a new record of about $73,700 in mid-March 2024, a month before the fourth halving. It first passed $100,000 on 5 December 2024, on hopes for friendlier US regulation under the incoming administration. On 6 October 2025 it reached its current all-time high of $126,198.07.
Four days later, on 10 October 2025, a new US tariff announcement on Chinese imports set off the largest forced selling of leveraged positions on record. Analytics trackers put the total at about $19 billion. That figure comes from secondary data providers and has not been independently confirmed. According to Fortune, bitcoin ended 2025 roughly 30% below its peak.
2026: a 50% drawdown and partial recovery
The decline continued into early 2026. Bitcoin fell below $75,000 on 1 February, below $70,000 on 4 February, and to about $60,256 on 5 February. Reports blamed general risk aversion, forced selling of leveraged positions and ETF outflows. By late October 2026 it was trading in the low $80,000s.
What the history shows
Drawdowns are getting smaller, but they are still large. From each cycle peak to the following low, bitcoin fell about 84% (2017–2018), about 78% (2021–2022) and, so far, about 52% (October 2025 to February 2026). The trend points down, but three cycles are too few to show that it will continue.
Bear markets have taken about a year to reach bottom. The 2017 peak bottomed 12 months later. The 2021 peak bottomed about 12 months later. The 2025 peak had its deepest point so far after four months, but the cycle may not have reached its low yet.
Leverage turns falls into crashes. The steepest single-day moves (March 2020, October 2025, February 2026) came during forced selling of leveraged positions, not from changes in bitcoin's supply.
Your data source changes the numbers. Highs, lows and "first crossing" dates differ between exchanges and price indexes, sometimes by hundreds of dollars or a day or two. When you compare figures, use one index and quote it with its date.
How to read a bitcoin price chart
- Use a logarithmic scale for the full history. On a linear chart, a move from $0.0008 to $126,000 squeezes the first ten years into a flat line. A log scale shows equal percentage moves as equal distances.
- Measure drawdowns from the peak. "Down 35% from the high" tells you more than "down $5,000 this week".
- Mark the halvings and policy dates. The halving dates, 10 January 2024 (ETF approval) and major interest-rate decisions give most price moves their context.
- Check where a figure comes from. A price taken from a single exchange can differ from an index price, especially during fast moves.
FAQ
What was bitcoin's lowest price?
The first published dollar rate, on 5 October 2009, valued bitcoin at about $0.00076. It was calculated from mining electricity costs, not from trades. The May 2010 pizza purchase put bitcoin at about $0.0041.
What is bitcoin's all-time high?
$126,198.07, set on 6 October 2025, according to the figure Fortune cites. Other trackers give slightly different numbers, between about $126,080 and $126,300.
How often does the halving happen?
Every 210,000 blocks, which takes about four years. The latest halving was on 20 April 2024 at block 840,000. It cut the subsidy from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC per block.
How far has bitcoin fallen in past bear markets?
About 84% after the 2017 peak, about 78% after the 2021 peak, and about 52% from the October 2025 peak to the February 2026 low.
Can past cycles predict future prices?
No. The supply schedule is fixed, but demand, regulation and leverage change from cycle to cycle. The patterns described here have only three or four examples behind them.
This is educational content, not investment advice. Prices are from the dated reports cited, and individual data providers may show slightly different figures.
