Bitcoin is dealing with a possible fourth straight summer time loss if it ends the 2025 stretch within the crimson, whereas the S&P 500 will log its third straight seasonal rally if its successful streak continues.
From 2020 to 2024, the S&P 500 logged eight optimistic July and August performances, whereas Bitcoin (BTC) had six. So, whereas their summer time tendencies aren’t solely decoupled, the divergence has change into clear in June. Since 2020, Bitcoin has posted only one optimistic June, whereas the S&P 500 has seen solely two adverse ones over the identical span.
A better take a look at the previous few years reveals that Bitcoin’s summer time slumps have much less to do with seasonal patterns and extra to do with crypto-native shocks and financial tendencies, akin to China’s mining ban, halving cycles and post-COVID inflation.
Right here’s how the previous 5 summers performed out and what might lie forward.
Bitcoin begins decade sizzling regardless of China’s crackdown
In June 2020, Bitcoin dropped 3.18%. However that determine masks Bitcoin’s robust momentum heading into the month. It broke above $10,000 for the primary time for the reason that COVID-induced crash in February. Bitcoin had a pointy sell-off following the Could 11 halving — a “promote the information” occasion — which drove the asset right down to round $5,000.
By July, international stimulus packages and near-zero rates of interest had boosted urge for food for threat belongings, lifting each equities and crypto. The S&P 500 ended each month from June to August within the inexperienced, whereas crypto markets have been buoyed by what’s now remembered as “DeFi Summer season,” the primary wave of yield farming mania.
However 2021 instructed a unique story as Bitcoin entered the summer time with regulatory uncertainty in one in all its greatest markets. China intensified its crackdown on Bitcoin mining and buying and selling in Could, shaking the community and sending cryptocurrencies tumbling by means of June.
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Momentum returned in July, thanks partly to rising institutional pursuits headlined by high-profile figures together with Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wooden. That summer time ended with Bitcoin up 8.68% — its final optimistic summer time up to now.
Bitcoin fends off Terra contagion and Fed charge hikes
The summer time of 2022 was the worst one for Bitcoin, and it was additionally painful for conventional markets. It started with the Terra collapse in Could, which triggered widespread contagion throughout the blockchain trade.
By June, Celsius was dealing with a liquidity disaster, and Singapore-based hedge fund Three Arrows Capital collapsed. The US Securities and Trade Fee added salt to the injuries by denying Grayscale’s bid to transform its GBTC belief right into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
On the similar time, US inflation hit a 40-year excessive of 9.1%, prompting aggressive charge hikes from the Federal Reserve. Client sentiment, as measured by a College of Michigan index, fell to a file low, and traders braced for disappointing second-quarter earnings.
Nevertheless, Massive Tech beat expectations, serving to the S&P 500 rebound greater than 9% in July — its finest July since main aggregators like CoinMarketCap began Bitcoin worth monitoring in 2013.
However optimism light in August following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s now-infamous Jackson Gap speech, the place he warned, “We should preserve at it till the job is finished,” reaffirming the Fed’s dedication to tightening. Bitcoin and the S&P 500 largely moved in tandem that summer time.
In June 2023, Bitcoin briefly broke from custom. A wave of ETF functions — together with one from BlackRock, whose ETF approval file was practically flawless — helped push Bitcoin up 12% for the month. In the meantime, the S&P 500 lagged because the Fed paused charge hikes however maintained a hawkish tone, cooling the AI-driven tech rally that had dominated earlier within the yr. Robust Massive Tech earnings helped the S&P 500 get well in July.
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Nevertheless, each Bitcoin and equities ended August within the crimson. Powell’s annual Jackson Gap speech once more dampened hopes for charge cuts, whereas China’s property large Evergrande filed for chapter safety. Bitcoin noticed a quick restoration after a US appeals courtroom sided with Grayscale in its ETF dispute, nevertheless it nonetheless closed the month and the summer time in adverse territory.
In June 2024, Bitcoin dropped sharply as weak ETF inflows, miner promoting after the April halving and a yen carry-trade unwind took their toll. The S&P 500 climbed steadily, fueled by optimism round AI and mega-cap tech shares like Nvidia, together with rising confidence within the Fed’s comfortable financial touchdown.
By August, Bitcoin had slipped once more amid renewed macro uncertainty, together with China’s financial slowdown and rising international commerce tensions. Whereas conventional markets additionally confronted headwinds, the S&P 500 managed to shut the month within the inexperienced, lifted by resilient tech efficiency and easing fears of additional Fed tightening.
Bitcoin retains integrating into international markets
July has typically delivered robust returns for Bitcoin, sometimes rebounding from a weak June. These recoveries have adopted crypto-specific downturns akin to post-halving sell-offs, the fallout from China’s mining ban and ETF-related volatility.
For equities, July can also be a pivotal month, as corporations report second-quarter earnings. This has pushed latest beneficial properties within the S&P 500. In the meantime, August brings heightened consideration to the Fed chair’s annual Jackson Gap speech, which regularly supplies hints into the Fed’s stance on charge coverage.
This yr, traders are additionally watching oil costs and inflation knowledge intently amid escalating tensions within the Center East and a conflict between Israel and Iran. Following a US airstrike on Iran on June 23, Tehran threatened to dam the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route. A ceasefire brokered by means of US President Donald Trump has damaged down, with either side claiming the opposite has breached the phrases of the settlement. On the time of writing, Trump has warned Israel to not make good on threats of “highly effective strikes” on Iran.
Such developments might drive up inflation, impacting threat sentiment throughout markets.
Whereas Bitcoin has change into extra intertwined with conventional markets by means of ETFs, company treasuries and institutional flows, it stays uniquely susceptible to crypto-native shocks.
Not like equities, which regularly transfer in sync with earnings, charge expectations and broader macro tendencies, crypto nonetheless responds disproportionately to its personal inside catalysts. That’s why methods like “promote in Could” don’t at all times translate throughout asset courses. Whilst crypto matures, its most extreme downturns nonetheless have a tendency to come back from inside.
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