The old saying “sell in May and go away” didn’t quite work out this year. Instead of cooling off, the crypto market showed more strength than expected. For once, May turned out to be one of the better months in recent memory – especially for Bitcoin and Ethereum holders.
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Bitcoin Breaks $110,000
Bitcoin ended the month almost 8% higher than where it started. But the price gain isn’t the only story here. For the first time ever, Bitcoin broke above $110,000, even briefly approaching $112,000.
Some of that momentum comes from the weaker US dollar, but let’s be honest – crossing that $110K mark is a major moment for any long-term holder. It’s been a long climb, and seeing a new all-time high in a month that usually brings red candles is worth more than just numbers.
Ethereum Steals the Show
Still, the real star of May wasn’t Bitcoin – it was Ethereum. Just a few weeks ago, ETH was barely holding above $1,800 – but after the successful launch of the Pectra upgrade, Ethereum came back to life. By the end of the month, it had climbed above $2,500. That’s a massive gain in just a few weeks, especially for a coin that some people had already written off.
Upgrades are often hit or miss, but Pectra clearly worked in Ethereum’s favor. And when you consider that ETH has been underperforming for so long, this kind of surge feels different.
Read also: Fusaka Upgrade – What’s Next for Ethereum After Pectra?
Major Coins in Green
It wasn’t only Bitcoin and Ethereum that had a good month. Most of the major coins closed May in the green. BNB was up 9%, Solana added 4%, Dogecoin gained 6%, and Tron grew by 8%. Even if those numbers don’t sound massive, they’re more than enough to silence the usual May pessimism.
XRP and Cardano were the only ones among the top 10 that didn’t follow the trend, each dropping by about 1.5% to 2%. That’s hardly a crash, but it was enough to make them stand out as the few losers in a generally positive month.
HYPE Breaks Out
One coin that really stood out was Hyperliquid (HYPE). It jumped by 63% this month and set new all-time highs, almost reaching $40. That’s a huge leap, especially when you remember what happened just a few weeks earlier. At the end of March, HYPE dropped under $13 after a sudden exploit in a related project caused panic across the ecosystem.
A lot of tokens never recover from that kind of scare. But HYPE not only bounced back, but it pushed even higher than before. Its market cap passed names like SUI, Chainlink and Avalanche.
Read also: Hyperliquid Chaos – $20M Exploit, Forced Shutdown, and a Surprise Twist
Other Big Winners
HYPE wasn’t alone in delivering surprises. AAVE, Quant (QNT), and ZCash (ZEC) all saw gains over 40%. And some memecoins also bounced back – PEPE climbed 34%, WIF added 36%, and SPX6900 exploded by almost 88%.
That said, gains like these don’t always last. Many of them followed deep corrections earlier, so some of the recovery might just be the result of investors buying the dip. Still, if you held through the rough patches, this month likely felt like a reward for your patience.
Not Everything Was Green
Of course, not every project ended May with a smile. Sonic (S) led the losers with a 32% drop, following the end of its partnership with Wintermute. Once that news got out, the sell-off hit fast and hard.
SUI and other tokens in its ecosystem also struggled, with SUI itself dropping 11%. The likely reason is a Cetus Protocol exploit that scared the investors – although most of the funds have been recovered, and affected users are expected to be compensated.
Read also: Sui Network Votes 90% in Favor of Cetus Fund Recovery
Traditional Markets Rally Too
Interestingly, crypto wasn’t the only thing rising in May. The S&P 500 gained over 6% this month – the highest since November 2023. That’s not a small move for a traditional index – but it came right after some serious pressure caused by the ongoing tariff war.
If negotiations go well and tariffs are reduced, we might see more green in the coming weeks. But if talks break down and more duties are added, markets could swing back quickly.
Looking Ahead
“Sell in May” might still be a smart rule in some years – but not this one. Anyone who followed that advice this time probably missed out on one of the better months we’ve had in a while. And while that doesn’t mean we’re headed for a straight-line bull run, it does show that old rules don’t always apply.
What’s clear is that confidence is coming back – not just in Bitcoin and Ethereum, but across the board. But whether that momentum holds will depend on more than just charts – regulatory developments, institutional interest, and the outcome of ongoing tariff negotiations are likely to shape the next few months.
Read also: Major Companies Are Betting Big on Crypto Treasuries
