Ethereum price history in numbers: moves, drops, recoveries
Binance ETH moved a typical 1.95% a day, fell 10% in a week on 10.83% of days, and needed 628 days after its 2022 low to recover. Compared with BTC.
On Binance, Ethereum's typical day moved 1.95%, up or down, from November 2019 to October 2026, against 1.38% for Bitcoin. ETH closed at least 10% below its close a week earlier on 10.83% of days (Bitcoin: 6.79%), and its worst year, 2022, fell 74.02% and took 628 days to get back to the January high. Over 24 hours it ended higher 52.03% of the time, close to a coin flip.
These are past cases, not a forecast.
How big is a normal day for Ethereum?
We use the typical day: the middle value when you line up every day's move, with the plus or minus sign removed. A rise of 2% and a fall of 2% both count as 2%. We use the middle because a few huge days would drag an average up.
The table shows Binance ETHUSDT and BTCUSDT perps. A perp is a futures contract that never expires. Each move is the change from one daily close to the next. 2019 is left out because ETH has only 34 daily moves that year.
| Year | ETH typical day | BTC typical day | ETH days over 5% | BTC days over 5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2.35% | 1.47% | 22.40% | 12.02% |
| 2021 | 3.33% | 2.35% | 31.23% | 20.27% |
| 2022 | 2.35% | 1.47% | 20.00% | 10.96% |
| 2023 | 1.12% | 1.00% | 5.48% | 5.75% |
| 2024 | 1.75% | 1.37% | 11.75% | 6.83% |
| 2025 | 1.97% | 1.15% | 16.99% | 3.84% |
| 2026 (to Oct 19) | 1.45% | 1.17% | 8.22% | 4.79% |
ETH's typical day was larger than Bitcoin's in every year. In 2023 the two were close: 1.12% against 1.00%. That year ETH even had slightly fewer days over 5% than Bitcoin (5.48% against 5.75%).
Among ten big coins on Binance, ETH ranked seventh by typical day, level with XRP (1.96%) and well below SOL (2.91%). For Bitcoin, see how much Bitcoin moves in a day.
The gap opened again later. In 2025, 16.99% of ETH days were over 5%, compared with 3.84% for Bitcoin.
The extremes are far from typical. ETH's largest fall was 45.22% on March 12, 2020 (Bitcoin lost 39.98% that day). The next day ETH rose 25.70%. Its largest rise was 26.48% on January 3, 2021.
How often did Ethereum fall 10%, 20% or 30% in a week?
For each day we compare the close with the close seven days earlier. The table counts days where that seven-day change was at or below the line. A separate fall counts once: it starts on the first day past the line after at least a week without one.
| Fall over 7 days of at least | ETH share of days | BTC share of days | ETH separate falls | BTC separate falls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 10.83% (272 of 2,512 days) | 6.79% (176 of 2,592) | 55 | 46 |
| 20% | 2.39% (60 of 2,512 days) | 1.27% (33 of 2,592) | 18 | 10 |
| 30% | 0.72% (18 of 2,512 days) | 0.35% (9 of 2,592) | 4 | 2 |
One bad week produces several counted days in a row, so the separate-fall column is the more careful count.
By year, ETH fell 10% in a week on a larger share of days than Bitcoin in six of the seven years from 2020 to 2026. The exception was 2021: 13.70% for ETH and 14.52% for Bitcoin. The worst ETH year was 2022 at 18.08%, and the calmest was 2023 at 2.19%.
So the answer depends on the year: from about 2% to about 18%.
What was Ethereum's worst drop each year, and how long until it recovered?
For each calendar year we found the deepest fall from that year's highest close so far to a later close. Then we counted the days from the low until a close reached that old high again. The old high is the year's own peak, not an all-time high. "Not yet" means no recovery by October 19, 2026.
| Year | ETH worst drop | Days from low back to old high | BTC worst drop | BTC days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | -62.61% | 135 | -54.00% | 137 |
| 2021 | -57.25% | 97 | -53.22% | 91 |
| 2022 | -74.02% | 628 | -66.94% | 446 |
| 2023 | -27.35% | 28 | -20.01% | 42 |
| 2024 | -45.37% | 337 | -26.26% | 61 |
| 2025 | -60.04% | 103 | -32.05% | not yet |
| 2026 (to Oct 19) | -53.27% | not yet | -39.52% | not yet |
ETH fell further than Bitcoin every year, yet it recovered faster in 2023 (28 days against 42) and in 2025 (103 days; Bitcoin had not recovered). A deeper fall did not always mean a longer wait. We compare crash sizes more closely in Ethereum vs Bitcoin crash size.
Does Ethereum rise more often than a coin flip over 24 hours?
We used every hourly close as a starting point and looked at the close 24 hours later. A coin flip would end higher 50% of the time.
| 24-hour move | ETH | BTC |
|---|---|---|
| Windows measured | 60,425 | 62,335 |
| Share that ended higher | 52.03% | 51.88% |
| Median move | 0.12% | 0.07% |
| Weakest tenth ended at or below | -4.14% | -3.07% |
| Strongest tenth ended at or above | 4.76% | 3.49% |
| Share higher after 0.10% fees | 50.41% | 49.30% |
ETH ended higher a little more than half the time, about the same as Bitcoin. But the spread is wider: one 24-hour window in ten ended at or below -4.14%, and one in ten at or above 4.76%.
The share was not steady by year: 56.52% in 2020, 55.11% in 2021 and 48.13% in 2022. Each hour starts a new window, so the windows overlap, and 60,425 is not 60,425 separate tests.
What does the longer Coinbase history add?
Coinbase has ETH-USD spot prices (the coin itself, in US dollars) from May 2016. Over 3,803 daily moves its typical day was 2.08%, and its largest fall was 43.32% on March 12, 2020.
The longer record adds a worse year than anything on Binance. In 2018, Coinbase ETH-USD fell 94.01% from its January 13 close to its December 14 close. It then took 772 days from that low to close at or above the January high again, on January 24, 2021. Coinbase ETH also fell 10% in a week on 13.25% of days, against 10.83% on Binance. The two histories start in different years, so they are not a like-for-like pair.
What do these numbers not show?
- They do not say what happens next. They describe past cases for one coin.
- ETH and Bitcoin survived and grew large. Coins that faded away are not here.
- Fees here cover only a 0.10% round trip. They leave out spread, slippage and perp funding payments.
- A drawdown measured from daily closes can miss a deeper low inside the day.
How we measured this
We used Binance ETHUSDT and BTCUSDT perp bars: daily for sizes, falls and drawdowns, and hourly for 24-hour moves. ETH starts on November 27, 2019 and Bitcoin on September 8, 2019. Daily data run through October 19, 2026 and hourly moves through October 20, 2026. Coinbase ETH-USD bars start in May 2016. We counted only complete windows with no missing closes. All changes are simple percent changes between closes, and a flat result does not count as up. A few early Binance daily closes disagree with the hourly bars, so we quote no single price from those days.
Try this in Comparand
Ask your connected AI agent: "Get daily bars for Binance ETHUSDT from the start of 2024, then list the biggest one-day moves and the longest wait to get back to a previous high."
- venue_bars returns open, high, low, close and volume for completed bars. You can ask for 1d or 1h. It is free on every key.
- Your agent does the counting. The tool returns the bars, not a report.
- venue_coverage lists which exchanges and data kinds are served. It is free. The chart search covers ETH on Binance, Bybit, OKX and Coinbase.
Then ask: "Find the 10 closest past charts to ETH's latest 48 hourly bars on Binance."
- shape_analogs with venue binance and symbol ETHUSDT matches only ETH's own past on Binance, one match per episode.
- Each match shows its path and its move 12, 24 and 48 bars later, in bp. 100 bp is 1%.
- It costs $0.01 per search from credits. It gives no average and no hit rate.
You can try 3 coins free. See the tool docs to connect an agent.
The short version
- Binance ETH's typical day was 1.95% against 1.38% for Bitcoin, seventh of ten big coins, and the gap changed by year.
- ETH fell 10% in a week on 10.83% of days, against 6.79% for Bitcoin.
- ETH's worst Binance year was 2022: -74.02%, then 628 days from the low to recover. On Coinbase, 2018 was worse: -94.01%, then 772 days.
- ETH ended higher over 24 hours 52.03% of the time, close to a coin flip.
- For how Bitcoin and ETH move together, see Bitcoin Ethereum correlation by year. For recovery times of ten coins, see crypto drawdowns and recovery times.
Questions people ask
How much does Ethereum move in a normal day?
On Binance, the typical ETHUSDT day moved 1.95% up or down, measured from November 27, 2019 to October 19, 2026 across 2,518 days. That is the middle day, so half the days moved less and half moved more. The typical day was 3.33% in 2021 and 1.12% in 2023.
How often does Ethereum fall 10% in a week?
On 10.83% of days, ETH on Binance closed at least 10% below its close seven days earlier (272 of 2,512 days). A fall of 20% or more happened on 2.39% of days, and a fall of 30% or more on 0.72%. Bitcoin on Binance had 6.79%, 1.27% and 0.35% over its slightly longer history.
How long did Ethereum take to recover from its worst year?
Binance ETHUSDT fell 74.02% from its January 2, 2022 closing high to its June 18, 2022 low. It then took 628 days to close at or above that January high again, on March 7, 2024. Bitcoin's worst year on Binance, also 2022, took 446 days from low to recovery.
Does Ethereum go up more than half the time over 24 hours?
Slightly. Across 60,425 24-hour windows on Binance ETHUSDT, 52.03% ended higher. After a 0.10% round-trip fee for a long trade, that fell to 50.41%. The windows overlap, and the share was 48.13% in 2022, so it is close to a coin flip, not a pattern to count on.
What was Ethereum's biggest crash?
On Coinbase ETH-USD, which goes back to 2016, ETH fell 94.01% from its January 13, 2018 close to its December 14, 2018 close. It took 772 days from that low to close at or above the January 2018 high again, on January 24, 2021.