Richard Teng, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, reportedly said Bitcoin’s volatility aligns with that seen in most major asset classes.
According to a Friday Reuters report, Teng said during a media roundtable in Sydney that all asset classes go through different cycles and volatility. “What you’re seeing is not only happening to crypto prices,” he claimed.
Teng also explained that Bitcoin’s recent drop was driven by investors deleveraging their positions and by risk aversion, which is in line with trends across most major asset classes. “At this point in time, there’s a bit of risk (off) and deleveraging happening,” he reportedly said.
At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap data shows Bitcoin trading just above $82,000 — nearly 35% down from its Oct. 6 all-time high of over $126,000. The total crypto market cap is at $2.84 trillion, down 33.6% from an all-time high of $4.28 trillion.
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Healthy market action
Teng noted that, despite the decline, Bitcoin is trading at more than double the price it was changing hands at in 2024. “Over the past 1.5 years, the crypto sector has performed very, very well, so it’s not unexpected that people do take profit,” he reportedly said.
“Any consolidation is actually healthy for the industry, for the industry to take a breather, find its feet.”
Is Bitcoin’s volatility in line with traditional markets?
Still, Teng’s claim that Bitcoin’s volatility is not higher than that of most major asset classes stands out as counter to what is likely the most common view on the matter. So far in 2025, the 60-day BTC-USD volatility marker has ranged from a couple of short-lived dips around 1% to peaks of nearly 2.44%, according to BitBo data.
This follows data clearly showing that Bitcoin’s historically astronomical volatility is falling as it gains in adoption and liquidity. September 21Shares research shows that in 2013, the annualized volatility reached an all-time high of 181% and this year it dipped as low as 23%.
Related: Bitcoin slump to $86K brings BTC closer to ‘max pain’ but great ‘discount’ zone
Furthermore, 21Shares’ chart comparing Bitcoin to the S&P 500 shows that during this year’s market turmoil, the S&P 500’s annualized volatility briefly surpassed Bitcoin’s. Still, this only happened during a period of uncharacteristically high volatility in traditional markets that has since fallen off a cliff.
At the time of writing, V-Lab data shows that Bitcoin has an annualized volatility of well over 50%, while the S&P 500 is just over 15%. Still, in the tech space, there are indeed stocks that are more volatile than Bitcoin.
Vehicle manufacturer Tesla’s annualized volatility currently stands at over 65%, chip manufacturer AMD’s at over 73%, and server manufacturer Super Micro Computer is at 73%. Government intelligence software provider Palantir is also seeing 63% volatility. However, those are outliers in traditional finance.
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