Does crypto go down on weekends?

Crypto does not reliably go down on weekends. Prices can rise or fall on any day, and there is no sign of a built-in weekend drop. What is consistent is that fewer people trade at weekends, which makes the market thinner and more prone to sudden moves.

Why is crypto volume lower on weekends?

Crypto trades 24/7, but many of the firms that supply most of its volume keep business hours. Research firm Kaiko found that up to 28% of bitcoin trading happened on weekends in 2019, falling to about 16% in the year to June 2024, according to The Block. An earlier Kaiko note, reported by Cointelegraph, put the weekend share at 13% in early 2024.

Kaiko pointed to two causes. Spot bitcoin ETFs trade only on weekdays, and their creations and redemptions cluster around a daily pricing window in the New York afternoon. And the 2023 closures of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank removed payment networks that had let trading firms move dollars at any hour, making them less willing to quote prices when markets are quiet.

Does bitcoin go down at night or on weekends?

Not as a rule. A 2017 working paper by economists Guglielmo Maria Caporale and Alex Plastun tested day-of-the-week patterns. Most coins showed none. Bitcoin was the exception, but its unusual day was Monday, when returns were higher, not lower. Patterns found in old data can fade once traders notice them.

Night is a matter of time zone, since a market open everywhere has no single night. Activity does tend to gather around busy trading hours, such as the New York window Kaiko identified.

What is crypto weekend volatility?

When fewer orders sit on the books, a large buy or sell moves the price further than it would midweek. That is why weekend moves can look sharp even without major news. Thin markets also make it easier for leveraged positions to be closed out in a cascade, explained in what happens if you get liquidated. For the wider causes of price swings, see why is crypto so volatile.

What is the CME gap in bitcoin?

For years, bitcoin futures at CME Group in Chicago stopped trading over the weekend while spot bitcoin kept going. Ledger Academy explains that if bitcoin moved while CME was shut, the futures reopened at a different price, leaving a blank space on the chart. Many traders watched for these gaps to close, though Ledger notes that some stayed open for months.

CME says its crypto futures and options went to 24/7 trading on May 29, 2026. As of November 2026, new weekend gaps no longer form, although older ones still appear on historical charts.