Cryptocurrency investors spent much of 2025 watching their investments soar to new highs before a late-year slump erased many of those gains. Experts expect similar volatility in 2026, though with fewer extreme peaks and valleys.
As usual, the overall market performance has largely been driven by bitcoin (BTC), the 800-pound crypto gorilla with a market cap bigger than the next 20-plus players combined. Bitcoin’s price set an all-time high above $126,000 in early October 2025 before losing 30% of its value to close the year at less than $88,000. It has since recouped some of those losses, trading at around $90,500 on Jan. 9, 2026
