Do Bitcoin and Altcoins Have the Most Room for Growth in 2026?

Bitcoin’s price performance over the past three months has been quite painful, as the asset ended 2025 in the red despite the massive surge that occurred a few times throughout the year.

This was quite surprising to some, especially considering that most other financial assets had their best year yet. But is that a blessing in disguise?

2025 afterwards

2025 was a controversial year in crypto land. Investors went into it with high expectations, expecting then-President-elect Donald J. Trump to deliver on his many pro-crypto promises. It was also a year after the halving, which (until that point) was always a catalyst for gains. The combination of the two should have made it historic, right?

And it did, at least to some extent. It started with a few consecutive record highs, then a huge correction in April and May due to Trump’s tariffs, but then a rally again. As the fourth quarter approached, everyone was convinced that the previous records would be broken again. After all, October is not known as ‘Uptober’ for nothing.

And the first week did not disappoint. Almost on cue, BTC skyrocketed to a new all-time high at just over $126,000 as the community celebrated and mapped out the next massive goals. But then it all went terribly wrong. Instead of targeting $150,000, $200,000 or even higher, BTC collapsed by double digits in just one day as $19 billion in liquidations hit over-indebted investors.

The landscape has not been the same since then. Although BTC stayed in the six-figure territory for over a month after that disaster, it felt like it was on borrowed time and inevitably fell below that level to end the year at less than $88,000. This represented an annual decline of 6%. Moreover, it was the first year after the halving that ended in the red.

Most room for growth in 2026?

As all that fell apart, other financial assets soared. This is especially true for precious metals, as the two largest consecutive all-time highs topped out, closing the year up 65% (gold) and up 150% (silver). The S&P finished with an 18% jump. Even if we only examine their performance since the aforementioned BTC ATH, the cryptocurrency pales in comparison.

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Santiment data shows that gold is up 11% in those three months, while the S&P 500 is up 3%. In contrast, BTC has fallen 26% while it is now stagnant at $90,000. However, the analytics firm believes that this actually means that BTC and crypto as a whole could have the biggest upside for a recovery in 2026.

📊 Since Bitcoin’s all-time high of $126,000 on October 6, cryptocurrencies have significantly lagged stocks and gold. The returns over the past 3 months are:

🥇 Gold: +11%
🏦S&P500: +3%
🪙Bitcoin $BTC: -26%

🧐 The crypto upside is in place for a 2026 recovery. https://t.co/MwzVCs85Al pic.twitter.com/LYyxlMm63d

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 9, 2026