The Bitcoin bear market that has been in effect since the world’s biggest cryptocurrency hit its ATH of almost $20,000 is now the longest period of declining prices in its 10 year history.

Before the current “crypto winter”, the longest bear market in Bitcoin’s history started in December of 2013 and was further amplified by the collapse of Mt.Gox, the biggest BTC exchange of its time. It took until January 2015 before bulls took over in the Bitcoin markets.

The Bitcoin bear market that is following the mid-December 2017 all-time high had no such catastrophic catalyst, although it was hardly necessary after BTC and the rest of the cryptocurrency market produced a bull run of historic proportions in the latter half of 2017.

So far, the two longest Bitcoin bear markets are similar as far as the relative size of the drop in BTC value is concerned. The 2013-2015 crypto winter saw the price of BTC drop by 84.6% before a reversal, and the market is currently down from the ATH by a similar amount.

If we discount the Mt.Gox debacle, the two bear markets are also different because during 2013-2015, Bitcoin was much more dominant in terms of market share than it is today.

Whether we are close to the end of the bear market is anyone’s guess, but one fundamental factor should be considered. The next Bitcoin halving is estimated to occur on May 25, 2020. This will result in the reduction of Bitcoin’s block reward from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC, halving the amount of newly produced BTC.