Despite the highly bearish 2022 and the negative predictions for the new year, bitcoin prove all the critics wrong in January, increasing its USD value by almost 40%.

Thus, this became the asset’s best-performing January since 2013.

10 Years Later – Massive Gains

2022 turned out to be one of the worst years for bitcoin in terms of price action as the entire industry deteriorated amid massive collapses. It all started with the Terra ecosystem implosion mid-Year, followed by numerous bankruptcy filings from companies with exposure to LUNA and UST.

The sector was finally starting to recover at the end of the year when FTX went down in an even more spectacular fashion. Being one of the giants in the field until November, the contagion spread viciously, and the ripple effects were felt almost everywhere.

Focusing back on bitcoin, it plummeted below $16,000 for the first time in about two years. Just for reference, it traded above $46,000 on January 1, 2022. As such, it finished last year with a drop of 65%, even though it added around a grand by the end of it.

The first week of the new year was somewhat similar, with BTC standing quiet below $17,000. However, the asset finally broke above that coveted line on January 9 and has never looked back since. Just the opposite, it surged by double digits and charted a 5-month high at $24,000 during the past weekend. Despite losing some value in the next two days, bitcoin still managed to close the month at around $23,000 – a 39.66% increase, according to CoinGlass.

This has made it the best-performing January since 2013, when it skyrocketed by 44%. Overall, this past January was the best month for BTC since October 2021 (39.93%).

What About February?

With February already here, it’s interesting to see what history tells us about BTC’s performance in that month. As the picture above demonstrates, it has been a highly positive one for the cryptocurrency since CoinGlass keeps records (2013).

In fact, February 10 years ago was the best, with a mindblowing price increase of 61.77%, followed by 2021 (36.78%). Only in 2014 (-31.03%) and 2020 (-8.6%) bitcoin ended the month at a lower price valuation than it entered it.

The predictions for this year vary widely, with numerous BTC proponents envisioning massive price gains and critics foreseeing another bearish year.