Just been diving into the crypto bull run history over the past decade, and honestly, the patterns are pretty wild when you map them out.

So we've had roughly five major cycles. The 2015-2016 run was pretty modest by today's standards - BTC went from around $152 up to $780 over about 17 months. Then 2017 hit and everyone lost their minds, took us from $1K to almost $20K in basically a year. That was the first time most people really paid attention to crypto.

But the 2020-2021 cycle? That was the biggest thing we'd seen. Started with the COVID crash bottom around $3,850, then BTC absolutely exploded to $69K by late 2021. Twenty months of pure madness.

After that bear market, we got the late 2023 to early 2024 run. Started around $16,500 right after the whole FTX situation settled, and peaked at $73,738. Took about 14 months.

Here's what's interesting about the current crypto bull run history - there's usually a halving event that acts as a catalyst. The April 2024 halving seems to have set the stage, and we're seeing the expected recovery pattern. We're now in May 2026 and BTC just hit a new all-time high of $126.08K, which blows away the previous peaks. The price is currently sitting around $81K, showing how volatile these cycles can get.

What I've noticed is that each bull run typically starts right after a major bottom, then runs for 12-20 months before the inevitable crash. The timing varies by exchange, but the pattern holds pretty consistently. If you're trying to understand crypto bull run history and predict the next move, watching for these cycle bottoms is probably your best bet. The data's pretty clear - we're in a different phase now compared to 2024, and this latest ATH suggests we're still in the accumulation and growth phase of this cycle.