Bitcoin finished August 2026 with an increase of nearly 25 percent, achieving a result not seen in comparable years 2014, 2018, and 2022, which followed peaks of previous cycles. Popular crypto profile Ash Crypto warned on September 1 of an unusual ‘monthly candle’, noting that the result from August breaks the pattern that followed previous phases of the bitcoin bear market.
Bitcoin Breaks August Pattern
The chart from Ash Crypto, created based on Bitstamp data and displayed on a logarithmic scale, compares the movement of bitcoin in August after major peaks of previous cycles. Bitcoin fell by about 18 percent in August 2014 after the peak in 2013, lost approximately nine percent in August 2018 after the peak in 2017, and dropped by about 14 percent in August 2022 after the peak in 2021. However, this year, things went in a different direction.
Bitcoin started the month at just above $60,000 and climbed above $81,000 before finishing at around $78,600, achieving a monthly gain of 24.95 percent. Thus, bitcoin recorded a positive August for the first time during a bear market.
The difference is significant, as the chart does not establish that bitcoin has entered a new bull market. Instead, it shows that bitcoin moved differently in August than in the same phase of the previous three cycles after their peaks. Bitcoin reached its last record value of just over $126,000 in October 2025 and remains significantly below that level despite the recovery in August.
This was also the best August for bitcoin since 2017, when the month ended with a growth of over 65 percent.
Data from CoinGlass since 2017 shows how unusual this streak was. Aside from the growth of 65.3 percent in 2017 and 13.8 percent in 2021, August 2020 was also positive, when bitcoin rose by 2.83 percent. This was followed by four consecutive negative Augusts from 2022 to 2025, and this year’s result broke that streak.
In addition to the positive result in August, the third quarter looks good so far, with the same CoinGlass data showing it is up nearly 33 percent, although there is still a month to go.
Such a result was surpassed only by the third quarter of 2017 when the value of bitcoin rose by more than 80 percent, and an exceptionally strong growth in September would be needed to approach that result.
Price Movements at the Beginning of September
Bitcoin fell below $77,000 after new attacks in the Middle East revived geopolitical tensions, and then quickly recovered most of that loss.
This was preceded by a strong rise last week when the largest cryptocurrency surpassed $81,000 and reached its highest level in over three months, followed by a drop triggered by sharp comments from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh in Jackson Hole.
At the time of writing this text, it is trading close to $78,000. Although bitcoin has lost about 2.5 percent in the last seven days, it is still up more than 23 percent compared to a month ago.
Bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has risen to over 58 percent, with a market capitalization close to $1.57 trillion. Looking at the longer term, bitcoin is still nearly 29 percent cheaper than a year ago and more than 38 percent below its peak from October 2025.
