Key Takeaways
- The price of bitcoin managed a new record above $125,000, setting a fresh high for the first time since August.
- Its price has retreated somewhat since. But a monthslong climb how has the market value of bitcoin equivalent to that of the biggest companies in the S&P 500.
Bitcoin nabbed a new high.
The leading cryptocurrency overnight touched a record, reaching all-time highs around $125,400 to top the old high-water mark, around $124,480, set in August. (It more recently traded closer to $123,000.)
The latest moves have bitcoin’s total market value at about $2.45 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap, and the total value of crypto at around $4.21 trillion. Bitcoin has had a dramatic year, climbing off prices below $80,000 seen in April.
Why This Matters to Investors
Big tech stocks get a lot of attention—certainly lately, as they’ve powered higher in recent months. But bitcoin is right there with them, recently touching a record after climbing some 50% off early 2025 lows and amassing a market capitalization that puts it among the biggest companies in the S&P 500.
While bitcoin bulls generally have seen the continued climb of the currency as inevitable, some have had more specific reasons for foreseeing more upside in late 2025. It has a history of posting new records in the 1,064-day window after bear-market lows, the last of which was on Nov. 21, 2022.
Meanwhile, bitcoin trading volumes on crypto exchanges have been rising since a September-end drawdown. Rising volumes have tended to be good for prices.
Some analysts see reasons to expect bitcoin to keep climbing. JPMorgan analysts in an Oct. 1 note suggested that the “debasement trade”—in which both retail and institutional investors hedge their bets with gold and bitcoin—to pick up steam amid concerns ranging from heightened geopolitical uncertainty to enduringly high government debt across economies and waning U.S. dollar dominance.
More broadly, recent developments have suggested that the crypto industry is making continued progress as it seeks to claim more investor dollars and position in the world of fianance—among them the launch of several new crypto ETFs and the rise in popularity of crypto treasury stocks.