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McDonald’s McRib is returning to select U.S. locations on Oct. 27, and crypto traders are once again linking the limited-time pork sandwich to bitcoin’s price, News.bitcoin reported. The outlet noted that the sandwich’s comeback has become a recurring talking point on trading desks, even as bitcoin itself has been drifting lower.
Over the past two weeks bitcoin has slipped roughly 1.8%, and its value against the U.S. dollar is down 4.1% since Sept. 23, according to News.bitcoin. Bitcoin was trading near $79,373 at the time of that report, down 2.57%, with ether at $2,292.
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Key facts
- McDonald’s will bring back the McRib on Oct. 27 at select U.S. locations.
- Bitcoin rose above its McRib-return-day price within 12 months in each of the six years from 2019 through 2024.
- The 2025 McRib return did not produce a rally; bitcoin fell after it and never reclaimed the price from that day.
- Bitcoin is down 21% since the last McRib return, though that 12-month window is not yet complete.
- Coinbase, Kraken, HTX, OKX, Blockchain.com and Bitrue all weighed in on the sandwich online.
Exchanges join the annual ritual
The speculation has moved past ordinary retail chatter. Coinbase posted shortly before the weekend that the McRib is coming back soon, adding the shorthand “IYKYK,” while Kraken wrote “McRib szn” alongside a photo of the sandwich. HTX, OKX, Blockchain.com and Bitrue also joined in, per News.bitcoin.
McDonald’s has historically focused the McRib’s limited runs on major metropolitan markets in the Midwest, South and Texas, including Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas and Atlanta.
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A track record with one clear miss
News.bitcoin measured bitcoin’s largest closing-price gain within 12 months of each McRib return. Across 2019 through 2024, bitcoin eventually traded above its price on the corresponding launch date every time. Three of those years, 2020, 2021 and 2023, delivered quick or sizeable advances, though the 2021 rally later reversed.
Last year broke the streak. Bitcoin was already retreating in the first week of October 2025 when the sandwich returned, and it has not recovered the launch-day level since.
The outlet was direct about the limits of the pattern, calling the McRib-to-bitcoin link an entertaining superstition rather than a credible trading signal, in the same informal family as bitcoin obituaries and Peter Schiff indicators.
Why it matters
The story is a reminder that crypto markets generate folk indicators faster than they generate evidence, and that traders repeat them even when the most recent data point contradicts the thesis. For readers, the practical takeaway is that a sandwich promotion carries no informational content about bitcoin’s fundamentals; the useful numbers are the price moves, which currently point down. The 2025 result also shows how a single failed year can undercut a run of six apparent wins.
What to watch
The Oct. 27 launch is the immediate date to track, and the fuller picture will only emerge once the 12-month window from the 2025 return closes later this year. Bitcoin’s move back above or below its recent levels will matter more than the sandwich.
None of this is financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and unpredictable.
Reported by news.bitcoin.com.
Source: Bitcoin.com News