Bitcoin, Ether Post Worst First Quarter Performance in 7 Years

The first quarter of 2025 ended on a sour note, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) posting their weakest quarterly performance in nearly a decade.

Data from the crypto futures trading and information platform CoinGlass shows that last quarter was the worst Q1 BTC and ETH have posted since 2018. On a monthly basis, March witnessed the highest losses BTC and ETH have seen since 2020.

Bitcoin’s Worst Q1 Since 2018

Bitcoin began 2025 strongly, surging to its all-time high (ATH) of $109,590 due to optimism about United States President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly administration. Since peaking, the cryptocurrency has steadily declined, erasing almost every gain made between December and January.

This correction was fueled by several factors, including macroeconomic uncertainty and the failure of Trump’s administration to make any substantial policy shifts to sustain the market’s bullish momentum. BTC fell as low as $76,700 within the last 30 days, and the past week has seen the asset trade in a tight range capped at the $89,000 resistance level.

Q1 2025 closed with an 11.82% decline for BTC, a significant deviation from the asset’s average 51.28% gain observed across past years dating back to 2013. The last time BTC saw such negative quarterly returns was in 2020, when it fell 10.83%; however, a much worse plunge of 49.7% was recorded in 2018.

For the month of March, BTC recorded negative returns for the first time in four years – the asset lost 2.3% of its value. Bitcoin has not seen a negative March since 2020. So far this year, only January has posted positive returns; February ended with a 17.39% decline.

Analysts at the crypto exchange Bitfinex mentioned that last quarter’s correction is historically significant because it featured a 29% peak-to-trough plunge from the ATH of $109,590 to the March lows of $76,700.

ETH, Altcoins Worse Than BTC

Ether’s performance last quarter was even worse than bitcoin’s. The asset plummeted by a whopping 45.41%, posting monthly negative returns of 18.69% in March. Notably, ETH has recorded negative returns consistently for the past three months, with the worst seen in February (31.9%).

Unlike BTC, ETH has posted only one negative first quarter since 2018 – in 2022, when its returns were -10.75%. Every other quarter since Q1 2018, when ETH closed with -46.61%, has been positive. The recent negative quarterly close can be attributed to ether’s underperformance in this bull cycle and over the past few months.

Meanwhile, Bitfinex analysts revealed that the most popular altcoins, especially meme coins, performed even more poorly than BTC and ETH; many are 80% down from their ATHs.