Bitcoin vs Gold vs S&P 500 vs Dollar
What $100 put into each asset on 18 Sept 2016 has become.
Bitcoin
$13,236
×132
S&P 500
$422.10
+322%
Gold
$332.42
+232%
US dollar
$72.12
−28%
The figures
| Asset | Total | Annual | Annual real | Max drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | +13136% | +63.0% | +57.8% | −84% |
| Gold | +232% | +12.8% | +9.1% | −26% |
| S&P 500 | +322% | +15.5% | +11.8% | −34% |
| US dollar | +0% | +0.0% | −3.2% | — |
"Annual real" is after inflation. Max drawdown is the deepest fall from a previous high inside the window, measured on the full daily series.
Methodology and limits: what this comparison does not tell you
The start date is the answer
From 2010 bitcoin wins by six orders of magnitude; from the last cycle top it trails all three. Both statements are true. That is why the window control sits at the top of the page rather than buried in it.
The S&P line includes dividends
This is the total return index, not the price index. The price index leaves dividends out and understates equity returns by hundreds of percentage points over this horizon — a bias that would run in bitcoin's favour.
Gold is the LBMA benchmark
The afternoon fix, not a futures contract. Weekends and holidays carry the last published price forward, because traditional markets close and bitcoin trades around the clock.
CPI is a national average and arrives with a lag
It is not your personal inflation rate: it is the average American basket, published about two months behind. October 2025 is missing entirely, because the US government shutdown stopped it being published.
Past performance is not future performance
All of this describes what has happened; none of it predicts what will. Nothing on Bitcoinomics is financial advice.
More tools on the same data
Bitcoin Rainbow Chart
Where bitcoin's price sits, colored from cheap to expensive, based on its full history.
Bitcoin investment calculator
How much you would have today buying according to an investment plan.
Satoshi converter
Sats to dollars and dollars to sats at the live price.
Monthly returns
Every month since 2011 in a grid, and the test for whether the calendar explains any of it.
Frequently asked questions
Has bitcoin outperformed gold and the S&P 500?
It depends entirely on when you measure from, and that is the honest answer. Over the whole history since 2010 bitcoin wins by a margin that admits no comparison. From the November 2021 cycle top it loses to both gold and the S&P 500. Neither is a trick: they are the same series read from two different points, which is why this page puts the start date front and centre.
Why measure bitcoin in gold rather than in dollars?
Because a dollar price mixes two movements: the asset's and the dollar's. Dividing bitcoin's price by gold's removes the dollar from the equation and leaves one question: how many ounces a bitcoin buys. It is the most direct way to see the monetary argument without relying on any official measure of inflation.
What does "annual real" mean in the table?
The annual return after US inflation, measured by CPI up to the last published month. It is the column that answers the question that matters: how much purchasing power each asset gained or lost, not how many dollars. That is why cash, which nominally returns zero, shows negative there.
Where does the gold, equity and inflation data come from?
Gold is the LBMA afternoon benchmark price, set by the body that fixes it. Equities are the S&P 500 total return index, with dividends reinvested. Inflation is US CPI, not seasonally adjusted, published by the St. Louis Fed. All three are aligned to bitcoin's daily calendar and recomputed when the page is built.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is a comparison of past returns with its assumptions in view. Nothing on Bitcoinomics is a recommendation to buy or sell.