Supercycle

A supercycle is an extended period, usually measured in decades rather than years, during which the prices of an asset class stay well above their long-term trend. The term comes mainly from commodity markets, where economists describe supercycles driven by lasting shifts in demand, such as the rapid industrial growth of China in the 2000s that lifted metals and energy prices, as part of the wider commodity cycle. In crypto, "supercycle" is used more loosely, often as slang, for the idea that rising institutional adoption could end bitcoin's pattern of roughly four-year booms and busts linked to the halving, replacing them with a longer and steadier rise. Such claims are predictions, not established facts, and markets have repeatedly fallen after supercycle talk became popular. Also see business cycle and bull run.