2025 Recap: Cryptos vs. TradFi

2025 was meant to be a banner year for cryptos.

Bulls (those hoping prices will go up) were armed with a crypto-friendly Trump administration, along with tailwinds for risk assets stemming from the Fed's 3 rate cuts last year.

All was going swimmingly well for the first 3 quarters of the year, with cryptos even braving the global tariffs angst leading up to President Trump's early-April announcement.

Crypto bulls enjoyed plenty of momentum for most of 2025, culminating in Bitcoin's new record high of $126,195.50 on October 6th, 2025.

Then, the historic 10/10 (Oct 10th) liquidation event happened.

The ensuing violent selloff sent BTC to its 4th-ever annual decline, while altcoins broadly spiraled lower (so much for "Uptober").

"Meh" Year for Major Cryptos

To recap, here's how major cryptos wrapped up their annual performance for 2025:

(ranked by market cap)

• BTC (Bitcoin*): -6.5%
• ETH (Ethereum*): -11%
• BNB (Binance Coin*): +23%
• XRP (Ripple*): -12.2%
• SOL (Solana): -35.5%
• TRX (TRON): +11.7%
• DOGE (Dogecoin): -63%

Crypto Outperformers

To be fair, even amidst the broader crypto slump towards year-end, there were notable outperformers that ended 2025 with supersized gains:

• ZEC (Zcash*): +804.8%
• XMR (Monero): +124.6%
• BCH (Bitcoin Cash): +37.2%

TradFi Winners

Looking over into the TradFi space, 2025 was indeed a year to savour for many asset classes:

• XAUUSD+ (Gold*): +64.6% - biggest annual gain since 1979
• XAGUSD (Silver*): +148% - biggest annual gain since 1979
• XPTUSD (Platinum*): +127%
• EURUSD+: (world's most-traded FX pair): +13.4% - biggest annual gain since 2017
• GBPUSD+: +7.7% - biggest annual gain since 2017
• SP500 (S&P 500*): +16.4%
• NAS100 (Nasdaq 100*): +20.2%

* = posted a new record high in 2025

NOTE: All % figures listed above represent annual % gain/drop for 2025

SOURCES: Bloomberg, Bybit

Clearly 2025 saw major "W"s, almost shockingly so in some cases, for major TradFi assets and some cryptos.

However, crypto's banner year petered out in Q4.

What might 2026 bring?

Start your year on the right note as Bybit Learn and Block Scholes deliver crypto insights and expected market trends for this new year:

• Where's Bitcoin headed?
• What to watch: Macro- and crypto-centric factors
• BTC forecast for 2026

Join the livestream on Monday, January 5th @ 8:00 AM UTC.

New Bybit signups stand to get a share of 20,000 USDT in rewards, and more!

This special livestream will also be shown concurrently on Bybit Learn's:

• X: @Bybit_Learn
• YouTube: @bybitlearnofficial

Don't Miss Out!