Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin's Struggles Continue

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This weekly update tracks some of the largest cryptocurrencies by market share: Bitcoin and Ether. While both are considered high-risk assets, they possess foundational differences that investors should understand. We have also included XRP, as it was one of the largest cryptocurrencies when this series began. By definition, a cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography to secure its transactions, control the creation of additional units, and verify the transfer of assets.

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin dropped back below $65,000 this week.
Ether fell nearly 7% this week, falling below $1,700.
Bitcoin is down approximately 28% year-to-date, while Ether has fallen roughly 44% year-to-date.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was the world's first decentralized digital currency. Since the first Bitcoin transaction occurred in early 2009, it has grown worldwide to a mainstream financial asset. While often volatile, as illustrated in the chart below, one can argue that the asset is highly resilient. Learn more about Bitcoin basics for new investors.

Bitcoin's struggles returned after a one week reprieve, falling back below $65,000. BTC is currently down approximately 28% year-to-date and sits about 50% below its October 2025 record high.

Ether

Ether is the native cryptocurrency run on the Ethereum blockchain platform, which launched in July 2015. It has the second largest market share, despite being the newest of the three assets discussed in this article.

Mirroring Bitcoin's movement, Ether's closing price retreated again this week, dropping nearly 7% and falling back below $1,700. ETH is currently down approximately 44% year-to-date and is now roughly 66% below its record close from August 2025.

XRP

XRP, which is owned by Ripple, was launched in 2012 and was one of the larger cryptocurrencies for some time until newer tokens entered the market.

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Bitcoin vs. Ether vs. XRP

An index has been created in order to chart these three cryptocurrencies together, considering their significantly different pricing histories. A logarithmic scale is used on the y-axis of this chart to better illustrate relative percentage changes and long-term growth trends, as opposed to absolute price fluctuations. The chart demonstrates which cryptocurrency's price has shifted the most since November 9, 2017. At various points in history, all three have held the top spot but Bitcoin is currently in the lead.