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Half of the top cryptos from 2017 have lost money, but others have made incredible returns.
Important points
- If you invested $100 in each of the top 50 cryptocurrencies in April 2017, your portfolio would be worth $40,000 today.
- Half of the cryptocurrencies that were in the top 50 five years ago have either fallen in value or are no longer traded.
- Long-term investing is often the most sensible strategy, even in high-risk and volatile assets like cryptocurrencies.
One of the difficult aspects of investing in cryptocurrencies is that multiple coins and tokens will not last long. This is a new and growing industry, and — as we saw with Terra (LUNA) — even the top crypto can collapse in a matter of days. As a long-term investor, it can be difficult to choose a cryptocurrency that will last. Some projects are not well thought out, some may experience technical or security difficulties, and some may turn out to be scams.
This is a high risk investment. But one of the reasons people are willing to take that risk and invest in crypto is because of multiple projects possible yields great returns. Our analysis of the top 50 cryptos by market cap from April 2017 shows that half of them have experienced a decline in price in the last five years — and some are no longer trading at all. Even so, the ones who performed were truly successful.
Comparing the top 50 from 2017 and 2022
Many crypto investors today may not have heard of a number of cryptocurrencies that were in the top 50 five years ago. For example, SingularDTV, BitCrystals, BitConnect, Round, Storjcoin X, and Iconomi are no longer traded. Others, such as GameCredits, Crown, Emercoin, Factom, and Lykke have lost 80% to 90% of their value.
Overall, if you invested $100 in each of the top 50 cryptocurrencies in April 2017 and held them until now, your portfolio would be worth $40,000 today — a 700% increase. That’s despite the fact that your 25 cryptos will lose value or fail miserably, for a total loss of over $1,700.
Only ten cryptocurrencies have managed to stay in the top 50 for five years. These are: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, XRP, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Stellar, Monero, Ethereum Classic, and Zcash. The other 15 cryptos were unable to maintain their position on the crypto charts, but they are still gaining value. The market has exploded in recent years, and many new projects have taken up market share.
The table below breaks down the value of those $100 investments — $5,000 in total — in each of today’s top 50 cryptos. It does not take into account any rewards from staking or interest-generating accounts.
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Show |
Crypto amount |
Initial investment value of $100 today |
---|---|---|
Be in the top 50 |
10 |
$25.080 |
Dropped from the top 50 but the value is still increasing |
15 |
$14.332 |
Dropped from the top 50 and the score dropped or failed |
25 |
– $1,750 |
Data source: CoinMarketCap and author calculations
Investment for the long term
Here at The Ascent, we advocate a long-term approach to investing. It can be difficult to stay on track with a new and unregulated industry like cryptocurrency, especially since so many projects will fail. However, those who persevered through the 2018 crypto winter will still see a sizeable return on their investment today.
This is a new technology and much we don’t know about how the market will develop. For example, there is no guarantee that any crypto asset will survive the challenges of increased regulation or a wider recession. This is why it is important to be careful when you buy cryptocurrencies.
Only invest money you can afford to lose so that if there is a crypto crash, it won’t stop you from achieving your broader financial goals. Our five-year analysis also shows why diversification is important. If you use all the altcoins and then collapse, you will lose all your investment. But if you spread your money across a wider variety of projects, you’ll have a greater chance of success.
It is not easy to survive long term, especially when the value of your crypto portfolio drops sharply. It’s tempting to cut your losses and sell. But if you do that, you will not benefit from the profits in the future. There is reassurance in the fact that we have seen declines in the market before and so far, the crypto market has always bounced back.
Even so, holding back is not always the right decision. Sometimes there are good reasons to sell your crypto investments. For example, you may lose faith in the management team or your original hypothesis may no longer be true. However, a buy and hold approach often gives your asset time to increase in value and can help you deal with any volatility. Being patient and waiting for the market to recover often pays off.
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