Bitcoin Cash Is Up 25% This Month, Three Times Bitcoin’s Gain. Can the Fork Ever Catch the Original?
Bitcoin Cash just posted a gain three times larger than Bitcoin's over the past month, yet its nine-year track record tells a far more complicated story about whether the fork can ever close the gap on its rival.
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Bitcoin Cash (CRYPTO:BCH) climbed 25.4% in the 30 days leading up to October 14, 2026. In contrast, Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) saw a more modest gain of 7.1% during the same period. This strong performance puts Bitcoin Cash far ahead in the Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin comparison over the past month. Currently, Bitcoin Cash is trading at about $278, reflecting a 2.0% increase over the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin, meaning it was created when the Bitcoin blockchain split in two. The split occurred in August 2017 because of a long-standing disagreement over how Bitcoin’s network should develop. At the time, Bitcoin holders received Bitcoin Cash alongside their existing Bitcoin, and the two cryptocurrencies have traded independently ever since.
This remarkable monthly growth raises a question Bitcoin Cash holders have asked for nearly nine years. Can Bitcoin Cash ever catch up to Bitcoin?
Bitcoin Cash’s 25% Month Came Without a Clear Trigger
On October 14, Bitcoin Cash’s 30-day gain hit 25.4%, increasing from 22.3% the day before. However, its developers and backers have made no significant announcements about upgrades, partnerships, or other developments that would explain this rally. As a result, the reason behind this price surge remains unclear.
Looking at a shorter time frame, Bitcoin Cash’s performance over the past week tells a different story. It has declined 9.5% in just seven days, meaning that while the coin had a strong month, buyers have pulled back in the last week. This trend reflects a broader market rotation among alternative cryptocurrencies that cooled after September.
Bitcoin Cash Has Fallen Behind Bitcoin for Nine Years
To understand how Bitcoin Cash is performing relative to Bitcoin, we can analyze the ratio of their prices. This ratio illustrates how much Bitcoin one Bitcoin Cash can purchase. It provides a clear view of whether the fork is gaining on the original, since both can increase in value while their price difference might grow.
Here’s a look at the closing prices from three key points in time.
| Month | Bitcoin Cash Close | Bitcoin Close | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2017 (the split) | $588 | $4,705 | 0.125 |
| December 2017 (Bitcoin Cash peak) | $2,527 | $14,034 | 0.180 |
| Latest | $277 | $83,376 | 0.0033 |
In the months following the split, the ratio improved, climbing from 0.125 in August 2017 to 0.180 by December 2017, showing early promise for Bitcoin Cash. However, since then, the market has valued Bitcoin much more highly than its fork, and the latest ratio of 0.0033 indicates that, despite nine years, that perspective has not changed.
Bitcoin Cash Is Trading 93% Below Its All-Time High, While Bitcoin Is 34% Below
This disparity is also evident when comparing each coin’s peak price to its current value. Bitcoin Cash is trading 92.7% below its record high of $3,786, set in December 2017. To return to that peak, the coin would need to increase about 13.6 times. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is 33.9% below its all-time high and only needs to rise about 1.5 times to reach that level.
Nonetheless, Bitcoin Cash does have a reasonable case for its potential recovery. With 25.4% growth in a month, it shows the coin still has the capacity for significant price movement. A coin that is this far below its peak can see substantial percentage gains with a relatively small influx of new investment. Therefore, a series of strong months could help improve the ratio.
Can Bitcoin Cash Ever Catch Bitcoin?
The chance of Bitcoin Cash catching up to Bitcoin appears slim, and the ratio helps explain why. For that ratio to rebound significantly, buyers would need to show consistent interest in Bitcoin Cash for reasons that differentiate it from Bitcoin. Unfortunately, the ratio has drastically declined from 0.180 to 0.0033 over the last nine years, while Bitcoin continues to attract steady demand from institutional investors and funds.
As we near the end of October, closing prices will show where the ratio stands in the ongoing Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin comparison. If Bitcoin Cash fails to raise the ratio above 0.0033—even after a 25.4% monthly gain—it suggests the gap is still widening. A move back toward the 0.125 ratio from the time of the split would require months of sustained demand, something that has been noticeably absent since December 2017.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing
