{"id":22950,"date":"2026-03-01T21:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-posts-third-worst-q1-return-since-2013-at-23-21\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T21:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:52:21","slug":"bitcoin-posts-third-worst-q1-return-since-2013-at-23-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-posts-third-worst-q1-return-since-2013-at-23-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin posts third-worst Q1 return since 2013 at -23.21%"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Bitcoin posted a -23.21% return in Q1 2026 and marked the third-worst first-quarter performance since 2013 according to CoinGlass data.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_a7d5605d4afa45388585a3da3809ded1\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bitcoin fell 23% in Q1 2026, its third-worst first quarter on record.<\/li>\n<li>Ethereum dropped 32%, also marking its third-worst Q1 performance.<\/li>\n<li>Back-to-back quarterly losses follow the October 2025 market peak.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The loss falls far below Bitcoin\u2019s (BTC) historical Q1 average of 45.90% and sits well below the median return of -2.26%.<\/p>\n<p>Only two prior first quarters posted worse performance: Q1 2018 at -49.7% and Q1 2014 at -37.42%.<\/p>\n<p>Ethereum fared worse with -32.17% in Q1 2026, also the third-worst since 2016, trailing its historical Q1 average of 66.45% and median return of 4.37%.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bitcoin historical Q1 pattern shows mixed performance across years<\/h2>\n<p>Bitcoin\u2019s quarterly returns since 2013 show no consistent first-quarter pattern. Strong Q1 gains in 2013 (+539.96%), 2021 (+103.17%), 2023 (+71.77%), and 2024 (+68.68%) contrast sharply with losses in 2014 (-37.42%), 2015 (-24.14%), 2018 (-49.7%), 2022 (-1.46%), 2025 (-11.82%), and 2026 (-23.21%).<\/p>\n<p>The historical Q1 average of 45.90% gets pulled higher by extreme outliers like 2013\u2019s +539.96% and 2021\u2019s +103.17%.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bitcoin quarterly returns: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WuBlockchain\/status\/2028024350209937782\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CoinGlass<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The median Q1 return of -2.26% provides a more accurate picture, showing first quarters tend toward slight losses more often than gains.<\/p>\n<p>Q4 historically posts the strongest performance with a 77.07% average and 47.73% median. Q2 averages 27.11% with a 7.57% median, while Q3 averages 6.05% with a 0.96% median.<\/p>\n<p>Recent years show increasing volatility. 2024 posted strong gains across Q1 (+68.68%), Q3 (+0.96%), and Q4 (+47.73%) while Q2 dropped -11.92%. 2025 saw Q2 (+29.74%) and Q3 (+6.31%) gains offset by Q1 (-11.82%) and Q4 (-23.07%) losses.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2026 Q1 decline follows October liquidation event<\/h2>\n<p>The Q1 2026 loss follows Bitcoin\u2019s October 2025 all-time high and the October 10 liquidation event that triggered $19 billion in market-wide liquidations.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin fell from $126,080 to current levels around $66,000, a 48% decline from the peak.<\/p>\n<p>Q1 2026\u2019s -23.21% return exceeds Q4 2025\u2019s -23.07% loss, creating back-to-back losing quarters.<\/p>\n<p>The last time Bitcoin posted consecutive quarterly declines occurred in 2022, which saw losses across all four quarters: -1.46%, -56.2%, -2.57%, and -14.75%.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitcoin posted a -23.21% return in Q1 2026 and marked the third-worst first-quarter performance since 2013 according to CoinGlass data. Summary Bitcoin fell 23% in Q1 2026, its third-worst first&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22951,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22950\/revisions\/22951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}