Bitcoin yearly highs and lows (AUD)
Bitcoin's high, low, open and close in AUD for every year from 2013 onwards, plus the intra-year range and full-year return. The interactive chart shows vertical bars from each year's low to high with the close marked. Hover any bar for the exact prices and which month produced the high and low. Useful for cycle reference: the 2013, 2017 and 2021 cycle tops all printed in November or December, while the highest close of the current cycle so far came in August 2025.
Chart
Vertical bar for each year showing the intra-year price range (low to high). White tick marks the year-end close. Green bars closed positive; red bars closed negative. Hover any year for the exact high, low, close, return, and which month produced each extreme.
Full year-by-year table
Which year had the biggest intra-year range?
Among complete years from 2014, 2017 had the biggest intra-year range. Bitcoin opened the year at A$1,336, its lowest month-end was A$1,274 in January, and it finished December at A$17,809: a range of 1,298 percent. 2020 was second at 262 percent (from A$10,409 in March to A$37,707 in December). Bear and consolidation years have much tighter ranges: 2015 (112 percent), 2018 (152), and 2023 (89). The narrowest complete year is 2025 at 37 percent.
Bitcoin all-time high by year
Bitcoin set at least one new all-time-high daily close in 7 of the years in the data: 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025. The other years' highs were intra-year peaks within bear or consolidation phases. Notable highest daily closes (AUD):
- 2017 high: A$25,033 (16 December 2017 - the ICO mania peak)
- 2021 high: A$91,345 (8 November 2021 - end of the post-2020-halving cycle)
- 2024 high: A$166,805 (17 December 2024 - the post-halving, post-ETF rally)
- 2025 high: A$187,780 (13 August 2025) - the all-time high to date
For interactive cycle context, see the Charts Dashboard or the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart.
Which month do Bitcoin cycle tops cluster in?
| Cycle | Top month | Top price (AUD) | Days post-halving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 cycle | November 2013 | A$1,246 | 366 (after Nov 2012 halving) |
| 2017 cycle | December 2017 | A$25,033 | 525 (after Jul 2016 halving) |
| 2021 cycle | November 2021 | A$91,345 | 546 (after May 2020 halving) |
| 2024-? cycle | August 2025 (highest so far) | A$187,780 | 481 (after Apr 2024 halving) |
The November-December clustering in the first three cycles is often put down to late-year retail flows and media attention, but three data points is a thin base. Days from halving to top lengthened from 366 to 525 to 546. The current cycle's highest close so far came 481 days after the April 2024 halving, in August 2025. If that high stands, this cycle topped both earlier after the halving and earlier in the calendar year than the previous two.
Methodology
- Data. Monthly BTC/AUD closes from January 2013 onwards, taken as the last daily close of each month. Each year's "high" is the highest monthly close in that year; "low" is the lowest. Intraday extremes would be slightly more extreme but are not captured in the monthly dataset.
- Open/close. Open = January's open value. Close = December's close value (or latest available month for the current year).
- Return. (close / open - 1) * 100. Pure price return, not compounded with intra-year DCA or fees.
- Range. (high / low - 1) * 100. Measures intra-year volatility independent of direction.
- Source and resilience. The monthly file is derived from daily BTC/AUD closes: Bitstamp BTC/USD converted at the daily AUD/USD rate, with Kraken's native BTC/AUD market for the last two years. Refreshed automatically every day. If a price source is unreachable, the previous data file is kept.
Related tools
- Bitcoin Monthly Returns Heatmap (AUD) - same data at monthly resolution with colour-coded heatmap.
- Bitcoin Log Regression Bands (AUD) - long-run fair value reference.
- Bitcoin Rainbow Chart (AUD) - sentiment-labelled cycle positioning.
- Bitcoin Halving Countdown - days to next halving + 3-cycle performance overlay.
- Charts Dashboard - all cycle indicators on one page.
- Crypto CGT Calculator - apply the ATO 50 percent discount to any Bitcoin disposal.
Frequently asked questions
Bitcoin's highest daily close in 2025 was A$187,780 on 13 August 2025. On the monthly-close basis the table uses, the 2025 high was A$180,117 (July) and the year closed at the low of A$131,255 in December, a -13.3 percent return for the year. As of 8 October 2026 the all-time high close is A$187,780 (13 August 2025). The table below shows the high and low for every year from 2013 with the month each extreme was hit.
Among the complete years from 2014 to 2025, the widest intra-year range was 2017 at 1,298 percent (high over low, monthly closes), followed by 2020 at 262 percent. The narrowest were 2025 (37 percent), 2021 (89 percent) and 2023 (89 percent). 2013 is left out because the data starts that January at about A$20, which puts its range above 6,000 percent. The intra-year range column in the table below shows the (high / low - 1) percentage for every year.
The three completed cycle tops in the data all printed in November or December: 29 November 2013, 16 December 2017 and 8 November 2021 (highest daily closes). The current cycle has not followed that script so far. Its highest close is A$187,780 on 13 August 2025, and the price has since fallen as much as 54.9 percent from it. If that high stands, the 2024-2025 cycle peaked earlier in the year than any of the previous three.
Across the complete years 2014 to 2025, Bitcoin's average yearly return in AUD has been about +162 percent (arithmetic mean) and +53 percent a year compounded (geometric mean). 8 of the 12 years closed higher. The spread is extreme: the best year (2017) returned +1233.4 percent and the worst (2018) -70.6 percent. Returns are AUD-priced. The Australian dollar fell from about US$0.89 at the start of 2014 to about US$0.67 at the end of 2025, which lifts AUD-priced returns by roughly a third over the full period compared with USD.
High = the highest monthly close price during the year. Low = the lowest monthly close price during the year. These are MONTH-END extremes, not daily or intraday extremes, so the table's highs sit below the best daily closes (for example, December 2017 closed at A$17,809, while the best daily close that month was A$25,033). The chart above visualises the vertical span from low to high for each year with the closing price marked as a horizontal tick.
About the author
