All-Time Low (ATL)

An all-time low marks the single lowest price a coin, token, or an entire portfolio has recorded since it started trading, and it functions as the floor against which every other price point gets measured. Because all-time high and ATL sit at opposite ends of an asset's price history, traders often quote both together to describe how far a market has swung.

Pinning down an ATL is not always straightforward. For an asset like Bitcoin, whose earliest trades in 2010 valued it at a fraction of a cent, the record is easy to establish because there is a clear starting point. Pre-mined or privately sold tokens are trickier: early backers may have bought in far below any price the public ever sees, so exchanges and data trackers usually base an ATL on the lowest daily close on public markets rather than a private allocation.

Reaching a new ATL is generally read as a bearish signal, often tied to negative news, a broader market downturn, or a loss of confidence in a specific project. Terra's LUNA is a widely cited example: after its algorithmic stablecoin lost its peg in May 2022, LUNA collapsed from over $80 to near zero within days and never recovered, even after a rebrand. Not every ATL is terminal, though. Cardano hit its own ATL in March 2020 before rallying strongly in the following bull run, which is why some traders treat a fresh low as a potential buying opportunity while others see it as a warning to stay clear.

Because context varies so much between projects, an ATL alone rarely tells the whole story; it is usually read alongside trading volume, project fundamentals, and the reason behind the drop.