Bitcoin (BTC) Poised to Post Its Worst Quarterly Performance Since 2018

Bitcoin's performance this quarter is shaping up to be its worst since 2018, when it fell 49.7%. Its current 11.86% drop surpasses the 10.83% decline from Q1 2020.

Bitcoin is set for its worst quarter since 2018, with recent price pressure pushing the world’s largest cryptocurrency to nearly erase its weekly gains.

The cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $11.86, placing it in a 10.83% deficit from the start of the quarter. This surpasses the 10.83% decline observed from Q1 2020, which saw Bitcoin’s price slide from $7,884.60 at the beginning of the quarter to $7,031.47 by the end.

If prices recover slightly from their recent sell-off, the quarter’s total losses could settle below the 2020 figure. However, further downward pressure could push Bitcoin below the $80,000 level by the end of the quarter, marking its most significant quarterly loss since the 49.7% downturn experienced in 2018.

Bitcoin’s price movements have been closely followed by investors, especially after the recent sell-off erased almost all of the cryptocurrency’s weekly gains. Moreover, President Trump’s U.S. tariffs, set to take effect on April 2, and stronger-than-expected core PCE data have contributed to uncertainty in the market.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s ETHE fund saw an influx of $4.68 million on Friday, marking a rare positive day for Ethereum ETFs, which have been experiencing a 17-day streak of net outflows. Apart from ETHE, no other major Ethereum ETFs reported significant inflows or outflows.

As of Friday’s close, the total value of U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs stands at $6.42 billion, a fraction of the $94.39 billion held by Bitcoin ETFs. Among the Ethereum ETFs, Grayscale’s ETHE remains the largest with $2.28 billion in assets, closely followed by BlackRock’s ETHA at $2.24 billion.

In other cryptocurrency news, Ethereum is down about 2.5% in the past 24 hours as it prepares for its Pectra upgrade, which is anticipated in late April or early May. The upgrade, designed to improve the efficiency and performance of the network, has been successfully deployed on the Hoodi testnet, paving the way for its integration into the mainnet.