Although Q2 is historically a highly profitable quarter to bitcoin, the asset has failed to produce any gains in the same period 2021 so far. Moreover, BTC ended May with massive losses, which actually made it the second-worst performing month with a substantial 35% decline in USD value.
It’s safe to say that May, which ended hours ago, didn’t go well for the primary cryptocurrency. The asset came after a red-hot April in which it reached the latest all-time high at $65,000 but ultimately retraced to below $60,000.
Actually, May started rather well. Bitcoin added a few thousand dollars in the first week or so and challenged the coveted $60,000 line. However, the inability to breach it caused concerns within the crypto community as proponents argued that if BTC fails to conquer it, a rejection may arrive.
And, such a rejection indeed arrived shortly. Perhaps prompted by Elon Musk and Tesla disallowing BTC payments for the EV-maker’s products and intensified by more China FUD, bitcoin’s dollar value started to plummet hard.
In a matter of days, the cryptocurrency fell from $58,000 to $50,000, then to $40,000, and ultimately it bottomed at $30,000 on May 19th. Since then, BTC has reclaimed some ground but still failed to surge past $40,000.
Ultimately, bitcoin ended May deep in red. According to Bybt, the asset slumped by 35,31%, which became the second-worst performing month in terms of USD price movements. It trailed only to November 2018, when BTC dropped by 36,57%.
It’s worth noting that historically Q2 is bitcoin’s best performing quarter with average gains of around 60% before 2021.
Although most alternative coins also went through a highly disruptive and volatile month, some, including Ethereum, actually did better. In fact, ETH was among the best performers until the middle of May, when it spiked above $4,000 for the first time and marked an all-time high around $4,400 on May 12th.
The enhanced volatility, though, took the second-largest cryptocurrency down to approximately $1,700 in weeks. After this 62% drop, ETH started to recover some ground and closed the month “within a hundred bucks of that last monthly candle,” as popular crypto analyst Lark Davis pointed out recently.
