Wake Me Up When September Ends: BTC, ETH Volumes Likely To Slide In September Too

Jim Haastrup
5 Min Read

Key Insights

  • September is historically a bearish month for Bitcoin.
  • Bitcoin and Ethereum‘s trading volumes have been declining in recent months.
  • The adjusted on-chain volume of stablecoins has been increasing but is still down from March levels.
  • Ethereum’s staking revenue and BTC miner revenue have both declined in August.
  • The monthly NFT marketplace volume on Ethereum fell by 8% in August.

Septembers are terrible months. Historically speaking.

Take a look at this chart:

Bitcoin’s historical returns
Bitcoin’s historical returns | source: CoinGlass

The chart above shows Bitcoin’s monthly returns since 2013. And as you can see, BTC has been wildly bearish in September.

So much so, that the highest monthly gains Bitcoin has ever made in a September is 6.04% in 2016.

Crypto Market Bleeds

There is no shortage of bearish predictions on BTC. Especially now that September is here.

Bitcoin slid below $26,000 over the weekend, causing nearly $170 million in liquidations from Saturday, until Monday.

According to Binance, Bitcoin has also slid by 11% over the last 30 days, with Ethereum dropping similarly by 11.63% over the last month.

Bitcoin and Ethereum decline
Bitcoin and Ethereum decline

Both of these cryptocurrencies are showing red digits on hourly, daily and weekly timeframes, according to CoinMarketCap.

A good explanation for the recent decline in crypto prices overall may be the ongoing crackdown and legal struggles over crypto mining in China.

Another possibility is the insane decline in the Bitcoin network’s difficulty, after hitting an ATH only two weeks ago.

In the long run, there are a few more bearish possibilities you should know about:

Bitcoin Volumes Slip Further Down

According to recent reports, Bitcoin and Ethereum’s trading volumes were nothing to write home about for August.

There were a few disturbing reports in a recent tweet from Lars, the research director from The Block.

According to this tweet, in August, the combined adjusted on-chain volume for BTC and Ethereum fell by 6.3% to $176 billion.

In a data chart taken from The Block and attached to the tweet, the monthly volumes of BTC and Ethereum both decreased by 6.7% and 5.7%, respectively.

Bitcoin and Ethereum’s dips in monthly volumes
Bitcoin and Ethereum’s dips in monthly volumes

Lars, in another tweet, went ahead to say that the adjusted on-chain volume of stablecoins climbed by 6.8% to $520.9 billion and that this metric is down almost 35% from March’s number.

The adjusted stablecoin transaction volumes
The adjusted stablecoin transaction volumes

Other Metrics Take Beatings

If that wasn’t enough, the report from Lars also shows that Ethereum’s staking revenue fell by 7.5% to $130 million, while Bitcoin miner revenue fell by 6.8% to $805 million in August.

Bitcoin miner and Ethereum staking revenue
BTC miner and Ethereum staking revenue

As secondary sales decreased, the monthly NFT marketplace volume on Ethereum fell by 8% to $391 million as shown below.

Ethereum’s monthly marketplace volume
Ethereum’s monthly marketplace volume

Other metrics like the legitimate CEX spot volume also decreased by 2.8% to $261.6 Billion, the lowest volume since October 2020.

Futures open interest also declined by 14% on BTC, and by 18% on Ethereum.

Bitcoin futures monthly volume
BTC futures monthly volume

September May Hold No Hope

To cut a long story short, almost every on-chain metric on Bitcoin and Ethereum took massive beatings.

Even the CME open interest in Bitcoin’s futures declined by several percentages, leading to a very important question:

What does September have in store for BTC and Ethereum?

If September hadn’t been such a bearish month for crypto historically, it might have been easy to have some hope about BTC and Ethereum’s futures during the month.

However, the reality is that September may not hold any promise for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and it may be best to keep one’s fingers crossed.

Bitcoin And Ethereum Crypto Market So Far

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $26,149. It is up by 1.03% over the last day and by 1.57% over the last week.

A typical sign of sideways action.

BTC and Ethereum’s price correlation
BTC and Ethereum’s price correlation

Ethereum on the other hand, is trading at $1,598 at the time of writing. The cryptocurrency is up by 0.33% over the last 24 hours and is down by 2.07% over the last seven days.

Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information, but it will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.

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Jim Haastrup is a blockchain and technical writer at Voice of Crypto, where he covers cryptocurrency, NFTs, DeFi, GameFi, and the Metaverse. Before joining Voice of Crypto in 2022, he spent over three years as a senior technical writer across multiple blockchain projects, including Hashtoken, Naxar, and Bino, where he specialized in whitepapers, technical documentation, and content strategy for decentralized finance applications. Jim began his career as a junior technical writer at RM in Canada before advancing to lead technical writing roles at Bulltoken, a cryptocurrency crowdfunding platform in Norway. Throughout his career, he has authored more than 800 articles and collaborated with development teams to translate complex blockchain protocols into accessible content for diverse audiences including developers, investors, and crypto enthusiasts. His work spans ICO/STO/IDO research and analysis, cryptocurrency market trend forecasting, and social media management for crypto brands. Jim has helped numerous startups build their online presence through strategic content marketing, technical whitepapers, and pitch deck development. Jim graduated from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering in 2021. Disclosure: No significant crypto holdings.