Just mapped out the last decade of crypto bull runs and honestly, the pattern is pretty fascinating when you look at the timing.

So the last crypto bull run before the current one started back in early 2023 after the FTX collapse mess. Bitcoin was around $16.5K then, and it ran all the way up to $73.7K by March 2024. That was roughly 14 months of solid upside.

But if you go back further, the absolute biggest run was 2020-2021. Started from that COVID crash bottom around $3,850 in March 2020, then just kept climbing for 20 months straight until it hit $69K in November 2021. That cycle was insane.

Before that, 2017 was the classic bull run everyone remembers. Started the year around $1K and peaked at nearly $20K by December. Wild times if you were there.

Here's what's interesting though: Bitcoin halving happened in April 2024, and historically these things kick off the next cycle about 6-12 months later. We're now in May 2026, and Bitcoin's sitting at $81.4K, which suggests we're already in that next bull run phase. The pattern has been pretty consistent - bottoms lead to 12-20 month rallies, then long bear markets follow.

When was the last crypto bull run really depends on your timeframe, but we're looking at a clear cycle every few years. Each one starts right after a major bottom, then just runs parabolic until it doesn't. The question now is how far this current cycle can push before the next correction.