What happened in each drawdown
- 2016 DAO-hack bear: -67.8% (Jun 16, 2016 → Dec 5, 2016)Peaked on June 16, 2016, a day before The DAO exploit began draining funds, then slid for months after the July 2016 hard fork.
- 2017 summer correction: -60.8% (Jun 12, 2017 → Jul 16, 2017)ICO-boom pullback. Excludes the June 21, 2017 GDAX flash print to $0.10, a single-exchange order-book event.
- 2018 crypto winter: -94.0% (Jan 13, 2018 → Dec 14, 2018)The ICO bubble unwound for 11 months. ETH did not close above its January 2018 record for just over three years. [3]
- COVID crash (Black Thursday): -61.5% (Feb 14, 2020 → Mar 12, 2020)Inside the 2018 bear. March 12, 2020 was ETH’s worst daily close on record: −43.3% in one day. [4]
- May 2021 crash: -57.3% (May 11, 2021 → Jul 20, 2021)A record high, then the May 19, 2021 market-wide crash (−27.6% daily close) and a summer grind lower. [5]
- 2022 bear market: -79.4% (Nov 8, 2021 → Jun 18, 2022)Rate hikes, the Terra/LUNA collapse and lender failures. The next record close took 3.8 years. [6]
- Dec 2024 – Apr 2025 drop: -63.3% (Dec 8, 2024 → Apr 8, 2025)Inside the 2021–2025 drawdown. A broad risk-off selloff in early April 2025 set the low.
- 2025–26 drawdown (ongoing): -67.6% (Aug 22, 2025 → Jun 25, 2026)From the August 2025 record through the October 10, 2025 liquidation cascade to a June 2026 low near $1,505. [7][8]
ETH’s five worst daily closes
Bear markets are slow, but the sharpest damage often lands in a single session. These are the largest close-to-close daily declines in the Coinbase ETH-USD record since May 2016. Moves like these are why leveraged positions get liquidated even when the long-term thesis is intact.
| Date (UTC) | Daily close change | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 2020 | -43.3% | COVID “Black Thursday” crash |
| May 19, 2021 | -27.6% | May 2021 market-wide crash |
| Jun 18, 2016 | -25.6% | The DAO exploit, day 2 |
| Jun 17, 2016 | -25.4% | The DAO exploit, day 1 |
| Mar 18, 2017 | -24.6% | March 2017 reversal after a rally |
Where the current drawdown stands (October 2026)
ETH set its record close of $4,831.24 on Aug 22, 2025 and its intraday record of $4,955.90 on Aug 24, 2025. The slide that followed reached a lowest close of $1,565.19 on June 25, 2026 (−67.6%), after an intraday low near $1,505 on June 6. On Oct 14, 2026 ETH closed at $2,418.66: 49.9% below the record close and 54.5% above the June low, 418 days after the peak.
By depth, the 2025–26 decline so far sits between ETH’s shallower corrections (−57% to −68%) and the two cycle bears (−79% and −94%). By length, it has already run longer than every past peak-to-new-high cycle except 2018 and 2022. None of this tells you what happens next. If you want to put numbers on the range of outcomes, the ETH price target probability tool models odds of touching levels like $1,500 or $5,000 by a chosen date, and our 2026 performance guide explains how to read year-to-date moves without hype.
Enter what your ETH is worth today. We apply each historical peak-to-trough drop (daily closes) to show the value at the bottom. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
- 2016 DAO-hack bear$3,220-67.8% at the low · needs +211% to get back
- 2017 summer correction$3,920-60.8% at the low · needs +155% to get back
- 2018 crypto winter$600-94.0% at the low · needs +1,570% to get back
- May 2021 crash$4,270-57.3% at the low · needs +134% to get back
- 2022 bear market$2,060-79.4% at the low · needs +384% to get back
- 2025–26 drawdown (ongoing)$3,240-67.6% at the low · needs +209% to get back
Illustration only. Future drawdowns can be smaller or larger, and fees, taxes and leverage are ignored.
What ETH holders should take from this history
- Treat −60% as normal and −80% to −94% as possible. Every cycle since 2016 has included at least one drop of 57% or more. If a 70% fall would force you to sell, the position is too large. Our position-sizing guide walks through it.
- Losses are asymmetric. A 50% drop needs +100% to recover; a 79% drop needs +384%; the 2018 drop needed +1,570%. That math is why the deepest bears took three years or more.
- Plan for time, not just depth. The two cycle bears took about 3.0 and 3.8 years from record close to a new record close. Money you may need within a few years does not belong in a volatile asset.
- Leverage turns drawdowns into wipe-outs. A −43% day (March 12, 2020) liquidates almost any leveraged long. Spot holders who did nothing that day were back above the pre-crash high within about five months.
- Custody risk peaks in bear markets. 2022 also brought lender withdrawal freezes and exchange failures. Read exchange failure risk and keep long-term ETH in a wallet you control.
- Scams follow fear. Fake “recovery” services and support impersonators target holders after big drops. Check Scam Watch and our Coinbase call-scam guide before you act on a cold contact.
- Use a process instead of a prediction. Test how scheduled buying performed through the 2018 and 2022 bears in the ETH DCA simulator, and put numbers on downside odds with the price target probability tool.
Methodology
- Data: Coinbase Exchange ETH-USD daily candles (UTC days), fetched October 15, 2026 from the public Exchange API. The series starts May 18, 2016, so ETH’s 2015 launch-era prices are not included.
- Drawdown = daily close ÷ highest prior daily close − 1. Recovery = the first daily close at or above the episode’s peak close.
- Intraday figures use the same exchange’s daily highs and lows. The June 21, 2017 GDAX flash print to $0.10 is excluded from the 2017 intraday figure because it was a single-venue order-book event.
- Other sources will differ slightly. For example, CoinGecko’s aggregated all-time high is $4,946.05 (August 24, 2025), versus $4,955.90 on Coinbase.
Frequently asked questions
What was Ethereum’s biggest drawdown?
The 2018 crypto winter. On Coinbase daily closes ETH fell from $1,386.02 on January 13, 2018 to $83.00 on December 14, 2018, a 94.0% decline (intraday $1,419.96 to $80.60, −94.3%). It did not close above the January 2018 record again until January 24, 2021, about three years after the peak.
How long does Ethereum take to recover from a bear market?
It has varied a lot. The two deepest bears took about 3.0 years (2018) and 3.8 years (2021–2025) from record close to a new record close. Shallower 57–68% corrections in 2016, 2017 and 2021 recovered in roughly 5 to 9 months. Past recoveries do not guarantee future ones.
How far is ETH below its all-time high right now?
At the October 14, 2026 Coinbase daily close of $2,418.66, ETH was about 49.9% below its record close of $4,831.24 (August 22, 2025) and about 51% below the August 24, 2025 intraday high of $4,955.90. The lowest close of this drawdown so far is $1,565.19 on June 25, 2026 (−67.6%). CoinGecko’s aggregated all-time high is $4,946.05.
Has Ethereum ever fallen more than 80%?
Yes, once on a closing basis and twice intraday. The 2018 bear reached −94.0% on closes. The 2021–2022 bear reached −79.4% on closes and −81.9% intraday (from $4,867.81 in November 2021 to $879.80 on June 18, 2022).
How often has ETH traded far below its record high?
Most of the time. Of 3,800 Coinbase daily closes from May 2016 to October 14, 2026, 53% were at least 50% below the prior record close, about 18% were at least 80% below, and only 93 closes (about 2.4%) set a new record.
Why do different sites show different ETH peaks and lows?
Prices differ by exchange, by index methodology, and by whether a site uses intraday extremes or daily closes in a given time zone. This page uses one consistent source, Coinbase Exchange ETH-USD daily candles in UTC. Aggregators such as CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap blend many venues, so their highs and lows can be a few percent different.
Does dollar-cost averaging help during a drawdown?
DCA does not prevent losses, but buying a fixed dollar amount on a schedule buys more ETH when prices are low, which lowers the average cost compared with buying everything at a peak. You can test real historical periods, including the 2018 and 2022 bears, in our ETH DCA simulator.
Sources
- [1] Coinbase Developer Docs — Exchange API: Get product candles (ETH-USD daily data used for every figure)
- [2] CoinGecko — Ethereum price, all-time high and history
- [3] CoinDesk — Ether price now down 94% from January’s record high (Dec 7, 2018)
- [4] The Block — ETH price drops below $100 for the first time since December 2018 (Mar 12, 2020)
- [5] Reuters — Bitcoin, ethereum plunge; crypto market cap losses nearly $1 trillion (May 19, 2021)
- [6] CNBC — Bitcoin drops below $17,800 and ether to about $897 as sell-off accelerates (Jun 18, 2022)
- [7] CryptoSlate — Ethereum’s $1,500 test (Jun 7, 2026)
- [8] crypto.news — Ethereum price touches $1,500 as market crash deepens (Jun 6, 2026)
Educational data page. Not financial, tax or legal advice. Past drawdowns and recoveries do not predict future results. Figures were computed from Coinbase Exchange data and cross-checked against CoinGecko and the news reports linked above on October 15, 2026. This page and CSV: CC BY 4.0 — attribute GrowYourEthereum and link to the license when you reuse them.