Difficulty Ribbon Compression
- 1M1M
- 3M3M
- 6M6M
- 1Y1Y
- ALLALL
- LinearLinear
- LogLog
About this metric
What it measures
Difficulty Ribbon Compression measures the normalized standard deviation across multiple moving averages of Bitcoin mining difficulty. It is a unitless dispersion ratio: lower readings mean the averages are closer together, rather than a lower absolute mining difficulty.
How to read it
A falling ratio marks convergence of short- and long-window difficulty trends; a rising ratio means they are spreading apart. In 2022 the series ranged from about 0.0117 on September 1 to 0.0800 on February 3, so compression varied substantially within the same year. Check difficulty and hash rate to establish the direction of the underlying mining change.
Dispersion alone cannot distinguish a mining slowdown from steady difficulty after a period of growth. Difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks, adding lag, and the zero readings in the earliest history reflect a flat starting difficulty rather than evidence of a market low.
- Frequency
- Daily (UTC 00:00)
- Asset
- BTC
- Category
- On-chain Indicators
- Type
- Single value
- Data since
- 2009-01-03
- Latest data
- 2026-10-27
- Data points
- 6,507
FAQ
Does a low Difficulty Ribbon Compression mean mining is easier?
It means the difficulty averages are close together. They can converge at a very high absolute difficulty, so this ratio does not measure the work required to mine a block.
How is this different from Hash Ribbons?
Hash Ribbons compare short- and long-term estimates of network hash rate. Difficulty Ribbon Compression summarizes dispersion across difficulty averages and does not identify the direction of their crossovers on its own.
What does the historical peak of 0.751 mean?
The reading on July 24, 2010 indicates unusually wide relative dispersion among the difficulty averages. It is not a 75.1% probability of a price move or a 75.1% difficulty adjustment.
