Stablecoin Depeg History

Every episode since 2020-12-30 in which one of the eight major dollar stablecoins traded more than 50 basis points from $1, with the worst point reached, the day it happened and how long it lasted. 40 events across 8 coins: 17 discounts below $1 and 23 premiums above it.

Want today's reading instead? The live depeg monitor shows how far each of these coins is from $1 right now.

The largest depegs on record

All coins together, ranked by how far the price moved from $1. Negative is a discount (the coin sold below a dollar), positive is a premium.

CoinPeakPriceWorst dayWindowDaysBacking
USDD -415 bp $0.9585 2022-06-20 2022-06-14 to 2022-07-14 27 crypto-backed
USDC -389 bp $0.9611 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-13 2 fiat-backed
DAI -375 bp $0.9625 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-15 2 crypto-backed
TUSD -356 bp $0.9644 2024-02-29 2024-01-09 to 2024-02-29 49 fiat-backed
USDD -312 bp $0.9688 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-15 4 crypto-backed
USDD -301 bp $0.9699 2024-04-18 2024-04-15 to 2024-05-08 21 crypto-backed
USDD -283 bp $0.9717 2023-01-21 2022-11-09 to 2023-02-16 98 crypto-backed
TUSD +260 bp $1.0260 2024-03-25 2024-03-21 to 2024-03-27 6 fiat-backed
TUSD +260 bp $1.0260 2024-12-08 2024-12-05 to 2024-12-11 7 fiat-backed
USDe +250 bp $1.0250 2023-12-25 2023-12-25 to 2023-12-30 3 crypto-backed

How to read these tables

Deviation is measured in basis points: 1 bp is 0.01%, so 100 bp is one cent on a one-dollar coin. The price column converts the peak back into dollars for the same reason a cardholder cares: a coin at $0.9611 buys about four cents less per dollar of card balance than the day before.

An event is a run of days on which the coin's daily price was more than 50 bp from $1. Days inside the run that dipped back under the threshold do not end it: gaps of up to 3 days are treated as the same episode, because a coin that recovers for a day and breaks again is still in the same trouble. The Days column counts the days beyond the threshold, so it can be a little shorter than the calendar window. Each coin lists at most five events, largest first, so the shorter tables below are not complete diaries of every wobble, they are the five worst.

Direction matters as much as size. A discount means holders were selling at a loss to get out. A premium means buyers were paying more than a dollar to get in, which almost always happens while a different coin is the one in trouble and money is looking for somewhere to land. Several premiums in the list share a date with a discount elsewhere in the list, and that pairing is the signature of a single event seen from two sides.

The clearest case: the weekend of 11 and 12 March 2023

Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday 10 March 2023. Circle disclosed that $3.3 billion of USDC's cash reserve was held there, and over the weekend the market priced the chance that part of the backing was gone. In this record USDC is at -389 bp on 12 March. DAI is at -375 bp the same day, not because of anything wrong with DAI's own design, but because a large share of its collateral was USDC. USDT moved the other way over the following days, at a premium from 2023-03-13 and peaking at +110 bp on 2023-03-21, as money left the two affected coins and went into the one that was not exposed.

On Monday US regulators said depositors would be made whole, the reserve question was answered, and both coins were back inside the threshold within days. The full mechanics are in anatomy of a depeg, and the effect on a stablecoin-funded card balance is in what a depeg does to a U-card holder.

The pattern to take from that weekend: a depeg spreads through whatever holds the broken asset as reserves, and a premium on a competitor is part of the same event, not a separate one. When a reading crosses the threshold on one coin, the next thing to check is what the other coins did on the same day.

The longest episodes

A different ranking: how many days each coin spent beyond the threshold within one episode. Depth and duration do not go together. The March 2023 episode was deep and over in two days; the episodes below were shallower on most days but did not heal for weeks.

CoinDaysWindowPeakWorst day
USDD 98 2022-11-09 to 2023-02-16 -283 bp 2023-01-21
TUSD 49 2024-01-09 to 2024-02-29 -356 bp 2024-02-29
USDD 44 2023-12-03 to 2024-01-16 -201 bp 2024-01-01
USDD 27 2022-06-14 to 2022-07-14 -415 bp 2022-06-20
USDD 21 2024-04-15 to 2024-05-08 -301 bp 2024-04-18

A long, shallow discount tells a different story from a short, deep one. The deep one is a question that got answered (a bank failure, a disclosure). The long one is usually a coin that lost its easiest route back to $1: redemption is slow, restricted or doubted, so the arbitrage that normally closes a gap in hours is not running. For a cardholder the long kind is the more expensive, because every top-up during those weeks is converted at the discounted price.

Every event, coin by coin

USDT Tether USDt, fiat-backed, 2070 days of daily prices from 2020-12-30

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
+114 bp $1.0114 2021-03-01 2021-02-20 to 2021-03-03 9
+110 bp $1.0110 2023-03-21 2023-03-13 to 2023-03-26 10
+107 bp $1.0107 2021-09-13 2021-09-13 1
+85 bp $1.0085 2021-01-12 2021-01-07 to 2021-01-12 3
+84 bp $1.0084 2021-08-20 2021-08-20 to 2021-08-23 2

USDC USDC, fiat-backed, 2070 days of daily prices from 2020-12-30

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
-389 bp $0.9611 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-13 2
-191 bp $0.9809 2021-01-05 2021-01-05 1
+110 bp $1.0110 2021-05-17 2021-05-13 to 2021-05-17 3
+109 bp $1.0109 2022-02-05 2022-02-05 1
+98 bp $1.0098 2021-11-15 2021-11-13 to 2021-11-21 5

DAI Dai, crypto-backed, 2070 days of daily prices from 2020-12-30

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
-375 bp $0.9625 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-15 2
+109 bp $1.0109 2021-09-13 2021-09-13 1
+100 bp $1.0100 2021-02-25 2021-02-24 to 2021-03-05 8
+99 bp $1.0099 2021-01-12 2021-01-03 to 2021-01-12 5
+96 bp $1.0096 2021-08-20 2021-08-20 to 2021-08-23 2

USDe Ethena USDe, crypto-backed, 991 days of daily prices from 2023-12-15

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
+250 bp $1.0250 2023-12-25 2023-12-25 to 2023-12-30 3
+230 bp $1.0230 2024-01-07 2024-01-04 to 2024-01-07 2
-162 bp $0.9838 2026-02-01 2026-01-31 to 2026-02-01 2
+100 bp $1.0100 2024-11-11 2024-11-11 1
+70 bp $1.0070 2024-01-16 2024-01-16 to 2024-01-18 2

PYUSD PayPal USD, fiat-backed, 1106 days of daily prices from 2023-08-17

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
+150 bp $1.0150 2023-08-28 2023-08-27 to 2023-08-28 2
-108 bp $0.9892 2023-08-17 2023-08-17 1
+90 bp $1.0090 2024-08-08 2024-08-08 1
-72 bp $0.9928 2024-07-04 2024-07-04 to 2024-07-07 2
-57 bp $0.9943 2024-03-05 2024-03-05 1

USDD USDD, crypto-backed, 1583 days of daily prices from 2022-05-02

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
-415 bp $0.9585 2022-06-20 2022-06-14 to 2022-07-14 27
-312 bp $0.9688 2023-03-12 2023-03-12 to 2023-03-15 4
-301 bp $0.9699 2024-04-18 2024-04-15 to 2024-05-08 21
-283 bp $0.9717 2023-01-21 2022-11-09 to 2023-02-16 98
-201 bp $0.9799 2024-01-01 2023-12-03 to 2024-01-16 44

TUSD TrueUSD, fiat-backed, 2070 days of daily prices from 2020-12-30

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
-356 bp $0.9644 2024-02-29 2024-01-09 to 2024-02-29 49
+260 bp $1.0260 2024-03-25 2024-03-21 to 2024-03-27 6
+260 bp $1.0260 2024-12-08 2024-12-05 to 2024-12-11 7
-208 bp $0.9792 2021-01-05 2021-01-04 to 2021-01-08 3
-193 bp $0.9807 2021-05-13 2021-05-13 to 2021-05-23 5

FDUSD First Digital USD, fiat-backed, 1130 days of daily prices from 2023-07-29

PeakPriceWorst dayWindowDays
+230 bp $1.0230 2024-08-08 2024-08-08 1
-193 bp $0.9807 2025-04-02 2025-04-02 to 2025-04-06 3
+120 bp $1.0120 2024-02-12 2024-02-11 to 2024-02-15 3
-116 bp $0.9884 2024-10-25 2024-10-25 1
+110 bp $1.0110 2024-11-11 2024-11-11 1

What this record cannot tell you

How to check an episode against your own records

If you held or spent one of these coins through an episode, the effect is in your own history, and it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Where the numbers come from