---
title: How much does Bitcoin move in a day? 11 years measured
url: https://comparand.xyz/blog/how-much-does-bitcoin-move-in-a-day
description: A typical Bitcoin day moved 1.38% on Binance and 1.43% on Coinbase, yet 9.24% of Binance days moved over 5%. See each year, big days and 9 more coins.
updated: '2026-10-21'
category: Coins
---

# How much does Bitcoin move in a day? 11 years measured

A typical Bitcoin day moved 1.38% on Binance and 1.43% on Coinbase, yet 9.24% of Binance days moved over 5%. See each year, big days and 9 more coins.

On a typical day, Bitcoin's price ends about 1.38% higher or lower than the day before. That is the median daily move for the BTCUSDT perp on Binance across 2,598 days, from September 2019 to October 19, 2026. On Coinbase, BTC-USD (July 2015 on, 4,109 days) had a median of 1.43%. Inside a typical day, the gap between the highest and lowest price was bigger, a median of 3.74% on Binance. A typical day is not a limit. On 9.24% of Binance days the price moved more than 5%, and the worst day fell 39.98%.

These are past cases, not a forecast.

For the ways to measure volatility and how to work it out yourself, see [What is crypto volatility?](https://comparand.xyz/blog/what-is-crypto-volatility).

## What counts as a daily move here?

We compare each day's closing price with the previous day's close. Then we drop the plus or minus sign, so a rise of 2% and a fall of 2% both count as 2%. That is the **absolute daily move**.

A day means a UTC day, midnight to midnight on the world clock. A New York day starts at a different hour, so some moves land on a different date for you.

We lead with the **median**, the middle value. Half of the days moved less than it and half moved more. The **average** (mean) is pulled up by a few wild days, so it looks bigger than a normal day. Binance's mean was 2.10% against a median of 1.38%.

A perp is a futures contract that never expires. Spot means you trade the coin itself, here priced in US dollars. We keep the two markets apart and never mix them.

## How big is a normal Bitcoin day?

| Measure | Binance BTCUSDT (perp, from Sep 2019) | Coinbase BTC-USD (spot, from Jul 2015) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Days counted | 2,598 | 4,109 |
| Median daily move | 1.38% | 1.43% |
| Average daily move | 2.10% | 2.29% |
| Days with a move over 2% | 36.68% | 38.79% |
| Days with a move over 5% | 9.24% | 11.90% |
| Days with a move over 10% | 1.31% | 2.31% |
| 90th percentile | 4.79% | 5.51% |
| 99th percentile | 10.58% | 11.85% |
| Median high-to-low range | 3.74% | 3.80% |
| Median hourly move | 0.23% | 0.24% |

A percentile shows where a value sits in a sorted list. On 90 days out of 100, the move was smaller than the 90th percentile.

The **high-to-low range** is the gap between a day's highest and lowest price, as a share of its opening price. It is bigger than the close-to-close move because it also catches swings that reversed before the day ended.

*Diagram: Show the share of days above each size (2%, 5%, 10%) for Binance BTCUSDT and Coinbase BTC-USD as two matching bar groups.*
## How does the move size change from year to year?

A lot. The table shows Coinbase BTC-USD for every year, with Binance's median beside it where Binance has data. The 2015 row starts on July 20. The 2026 row ends on October 19. Binance's 2019 row has only 114 days, from September 8.

| Year | Coinbase days | Coinbase median | Coinbase days over 5% | Coinbase high-to-low range | Binance median |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2015 | 164 | 1.23% | 9.15% | 2.99% | n/a |
| 2016 | 366 | 0.80% | 6.83% | 1.91% | n/a |
| 2017 | 365 | 2.44% | 25.21% | 5.73% | n/a |
| 2018 | 365 | 1.81% | 20.55% | 5.07% | n/a |
| 2019 | 365 | 1.52% | 12.60% | 4.07% | 1.26% |
| 2020 | 366 | 1.51% | 12.02% | 4.05% | 1.47% |
| 2021 | 365 | 2.35% | 20.55% | 5.77% | 2.35% |
| 2022 | 365 | 1.48% | 10.68% | 4.02% | 1.47% |
| 2023 | 365 | 1.00% | 6.03% | 2.77% | 1.00% |
| 2024 | 366 | 1.38% | 7.38% | 3.74% | 1.37% |
| 2025 | 365 | 1.14% | 4.11% | 2.97% | 1.15% |
| 2026 | 292 | 1.16% | 4.79% | 2.91% | 1.17% |

The calmest year was 2016, with a median of 0.80%. The busiest was 2017, at 2.44%, about three times larger. In 2017, one day in four moved more than 5%. In 2025 it was about one day in 24, and no day moved more than 10% on either exchange. The typical high-to-low range shrank too, from 5.73% in 2017 to 2.97% in 2025.

From 2020 on, the two exchanges' medians differ by a few hundredths of a point at most. The two markets move almost together.

Calm years did not stay calm in the past. A median of 0.80% in 2016 was followed by 2.44% in 2017. That is what happened before, not a guide to what comes next. Busy days also tend to bunch together, which we cover in [volatility clustering](https://comparand.xyz/blog/volatility-clustering-crypto). For how the size of moves changes through the clock, see [which hours move crypto the most](https://comparand.xyz/blog/most-volatile-hours-crypto-utc).

## What were the biggest days?

Dates are UTC days. Each move is the close-to-close change.

| Rank | Binance biggest rises | Binance biggest falls | Coinbase biggest rises | Coinbase biggest falls |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Feb 8, 2021: +19.57% | Mar 12, 2020: −39.98% | Jul 20, 2017: +27.20% | Mar 12, 2020: −38.81% |
| 2 | Mar 13, 2020: +16.91% | Jun 13, 2022: −15.41% | Dec 7, 2017: +23.42% | Jan 15, 2016: −16.86% |
| 3 | Oct 25, 2019: +16.71% | May 19, 2021: −14.44% | Dec 6, 2017: +20.24% | Sep 14, 2017: −15.69% |

Three things stand out. First, the worst fall was far bigger than any other: 39.98% on Binance against 15.41% for the next worst. Second, a big fall can sit next to a big rise. March 12, 2020 fell almost 40%, and the next day was Binance's second-best rise. Third, the exchanges' lists differ partly because Coinbase's history is four years longer, so it holds the 2017 days.

The same day also moved a little differently on each exchange, because dollar spot and USDT perp prices are different markets. Our [exchange price gap study](https://comparand.xyz/blog/why-bitcoin-price-differs-between-exchanges) shows how small those gaps usually are.

## Is Bitcoin the calmest big coin?

No. Here are ten Binance perps over their own histories. Start dates differ: Bitcoin from September 2019, Solana from September 2020. The table is not a perfectly even race.

| Binance market | Days | Median daily move | Days over 5% | Days over 10% |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BTCUSDT | 2,598 | 1.38% | 9.24% | 1.31% |
| ETHUSDT | 2,518 | 1.95% | 16.72% | 3.26% |
| SOLUSDT | 2,226 | 2.91% | 27.04% | 7.55% |
| XRPUSDT | 2,478 | 1.96% | 18.08% | 4.72% |
| DOGEUSDT | 2,292 | 2.33% | 21.20% | 6.63% |
| ADAUSDT | 2,453 | 2.41% | 21.73% | 5.58% |
| AVAXUSDT | 2,217 | 2.88% | 27.47% | 7.53% |
| LINKUSDT | 2,467 | 2.79% | 25.74% | 6.57% |
| BNBUSDT | 2,443 | 1.57% | 13.75% | 2.74% |
| TRXUSDT | 2,469 | 1.28% | 11.10% | 3.28% |

TRX had a smaller median than Bitcoin, 1.28% against 1.38%. Every other coin was larger. Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink moved more than 5% on more than a quarter of their days. For moves over a whole week, see [how often Bitcoin drops 10% in a week](https://comparand.xyz/blog/how-often-bitcoin-drops-10-percent-week).

## What does this data not show?

It does not show direction. An absolute move treats a rise and a fall alike, so it says nothing about whether the next day goes up or down.

It does not show what happens inside a day. A close-to-close move can hide a drop and a full recovery. The high-to-low range gives a hint, but it is also a median.

It is a short list of big coins that survived, not a random sample of all coins. And a typical day is not a limit: the 99th percentile was 10.58% on Binance, and the biggest day was almost four times that.

## How we measured this

We used public daily price bars for Binance BTCUSDT (September 8, 2019 to October 19, 2026) and Coinbase BTC-USD (July 20, 2015 to October 19, 2026), plus the same exchanges' hourly bars for the hourly figure. Each daily move is the percent change from the previous day's close to this day's close, so the first day of each history has no move. We took the size of each move, then found the median, average, percentiles and shares of days above 2%, 5% and 10%. We did not test a trading rule, subtract costs or look at anything inside the day other than the range.

## Try this in Comparand

Ask your connected AI agent: "Get daily bars for Coinbase BTC-USD over my chosen dates. For each completed day, work out the close-to-close move without its sign. Give me the median, the share of days over 5%, and the three biggest days with dates."

- **venue_bars** returns open, high, low and close prices plus volume for completed bars only. Use the 1d interval. It is free on every key.
- Your agent does the maths. The tool returns bars, not a volatility report.
- Ask **venue_coverage** first (also free) to see which exchanges and bar sizes are served. Our test used Coinbase from July 2015, and Comparand's chart search covers Coinbase from January 2017, so your history may start later than ours.

To check one day, ask: "Show Bitcoin's realized volatility and volatility regime on my chosen day, with the same for ETH and SOL."

- **hl_stats** returns realized volatility, a volatility regime and a correlation matrix for up to 20 coins on one day. It uses Hyperliquid data, a different market from the exchanges above, and costs $0.01 per call on pay-as-you-go.
- It uses the Hyperliquid archive, so call hl_coverage first to see which days it has.

See the [docs](https://comparand.xyz/docs) to connect your agent, or [try 3 coins free](https://comparand.xyz/try). The answers describe past cases, not a forecast.

## The short version

- A typical Bitcoin day moved 1.38% on Binance and 1.43% on Coinbase. The average was higher, at 2.10% and 2.29%.
- Moves over 5% happened on 9.24% of Binance days. Moves over 10% were rare: 1.31% of days.
- The median move was 0.80% in 2016, 2.44% in 2017 and 1.16% in 2026 on Coinbase, so size changes a lot by year.
- The biggest day was a 39.98% fall on March 12, 2020 on Binance, far larger than the next one.
- Move size says nothing about direction, and a typical day is not a limit.

## Questions people ask

**How much does Bitcoin move in a day on average?**

The typical day, measured by the median, moved 1.38% on Binance's BTCUSDT perp across 2,598 days since September 2019. On Coinbase's BTC-USD it was 1.43% across 4,109 days since July 2015. The plain average was higher, 2.10% and 2.29%, because a few huge days pull it up.

**How often does Bitcoin move more than 5% in a day?**

On 9.24% of Binance BTCUSDT days (September 2019 to October 19, 2026) and on 11.90% of Coinbase BTC-USD days (July 2015 to October 19, 2026). It moved more than 10% on 1.31% and 2.31% of days.

**How far apart are Bitcoin's daily high and low?**

The median gap between a UTC day's highest and lowest price was 3.74% of the open on Binance BTCUSDT and 3.80% on Coinbase BTC-USD, through October 19, 2026. On Coinbase it ranged by year from 1.91% in 2016 to 5.77% in 2021.

**What was Bitcoin's biggest one-day drop?**

March 12, 2020, a UTC day. Binance BTCUSDT closed 39.98% below the day before, and Coinbase BTC-USD closed 38.81% below. The next day, March 13, was Binance's second-biggest rise, at 16.91%.

**Has Bitcoin become calmer over time?**

In these past cases, yes since 2021. Binance's median daily move was 2.35% in 2021, 1.00% in 2023 and 1.17% in 2026 through October 19. Coinbase's median was 0.80% in 2016 and 2.44% in 2017, so calm years have also been followed by busy ones.