August Blues? History Says $BTC and $ETH Usually Lose Their Summer Sparkle 📉

Bitcoin and Ethereum closed July with gains, with $ETH rising 18.5% and $BTC up 7%, putting Ethereum's monthly return approximately 11.5 percentage points above Bitcoin's. Historical monthly return data going back to 2016 indicates that August has generally been a weaker period for both cryptocurrencies, with negative median returns suggesting losses are more common than average figures imply.

Ethereum's August record since 2016 is mixed. Of the 10 Augusts examined, $ETH finished 4 in positive territory and 6 in the red. Its strongest August came in 2017, when $ETH climbed 92.86%, while the steepest decline occurred in 2018, with a monthly loss of 34.79%. The average August return for Ethereum over that span is 6.74%, but the median return stands at -1.74%, a gap that reflects outsized gains concentrated in a handful of strong periods.

Bitcoin's historical August record is similarly uneven. The average August return is 1.06%, while the median is -6.99%, indicating that loss-making closes have been more typical than the positive average suggests. Recent Augusts illustrate that volatility: $BTC rose 8.13% in August 2025, gained 2.95% in 2024, and declined 4.02% in 2023.

While average returns for both $BTC and $ETH across the examined Augusts were positive, the negative median returns indicate that strong rallies have lifted those averages and that an ordinary August has historically tilted toward negative performance. Past monthly returns do not predict future results, and the data presented does not constitute investment advice.