The world's worst Bitcoin buyer (2015–2026)
Buy $1,000 of Bitcoin at the single highest price of every year since 2015 — the worst possible timing — and your $11,000 would still be worth $277,591 today (25.2×). Perfect timing would only have done about 3.2× better.
| Timing strategy | Total invested | BTC | Value today | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worst timing — bought each year's high | $11,000 | 3.485 | $277,591 | 25.2× |
| Calendar — bought every 1 January | $11,000 | 7.104 | $565,809 | 51.4× |
| Perfect timing — bought each year's low | $11,000 | 11.059 | $880,809 | 80.1× |
What the worst buyer paid
Each year this unlucky investor bought on the single most expensive day:
| Start year | Bought at (year's high) | For reference: year's low |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $463.18 | $164.92 |
| 2016 | $972.17 | $368.02 |
| 2017 | $19,345.49 | $785.43 |
| 2018 | $17,172.30 | $3,232.51 |
| 2019 | $12,913.28 | $3,375.33 |
| 2020 | $28,972.40 | $4,916.78 |
| 2021 | $67,549.14 | $29,388.94 |
| 2022 | $47,737.35 | $15,760.19 |
| 2023 | $44,186.18 | $16,613.87 |
| 2024 | $106,140.14 | $39,523.63 |
| 2025 | $124,723.00 | $76,255.10 |
Method
We invest $1,000 per year from 2015 to 2025 ($11,000 in total) and hold to September 2026, using real daily closing prices (CoinGecko via cryptotools.tech/api (recent) + CryptoCompare histoday (history)). Even with the worst possible timing every single year, the early, cheap tops dominate the coin count — so time in the market beats timing the market. Figures exclude fees and taxes and are not investment advice; past performance doesn't predict future results.
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