Interactive comparison · Compare
$10,000 invested at the start of 2013. Three assets. Twelve years. One comparison that changes how you think about your portfolio.
Annual returns 2011-2025 as published on the source page (Bitcoin: CoinGecko, USD; Gold: London PM Fix, USD; S&P 500: total return index). Calendar-year data only. Educational. Not a forecast. Historical returns are not future results.
All assets start at $10,000 at the beginning of the window and compound by calendar-year return. Tap or hover a year for values.
Cards and table are calculated in your browser from the published calendar-year returns. Drawdown uses year-end values only, so intra-year crashes look smaller than they were. Sharpe uses annual returns and a 4% risk-free rate, as on the source page.
Windows end with calendar 2025. 3, 5, and 10-year figures are annualized. Click a column heading to sort.
| Asset |
|---|
USD historical returns
| Year | Return |
|---|
London PM Fix, USD
| Year | Return |
|---|
Total return index
| Year | Return |
|---|
Decisively. Using the calendar-year returns on this page (USD, 2016 through 2025), Bitcoin compounded at about 69.1% a year while gold returned about 11.5% a year. $10,000 in Bitcoin at the start of 2016 grows to about $1.91 million by the end of 2025; the same $10,000 in gold grows to about $29,700. Bitcoin's outperformance comes from its fixed supply schedule, network effects, and adoption curve, not speculative enthusiasm alone.
The Sharpe ratio compares return to volatility, higher is better. Calculated from the calendar-year returns on this page for 2013-2025 (annual returns, 4% risk-free rate), the S&P 500 scores about 0.75, Bitcoin about 0.38, and gold about 0.14. Bitcoin's huge average return comes with even larger swings, so per unit of volatility the S&P 500 comes out ahead on this measure. Bitcoin's drawdowns are also far larger: on year-end values alone it fell about 73% (2021 to 2022) versus about 36% for gold and 18% for the S&P 500, and intra-year falls were deeper. Risk-adjusted return and maximum drawdown tell different parts of the story.
Using the calendar-year returns on this page (USD, 2013 through 2025, compounded annually, before fees, taxes, and currency conversion), $10,000 in Bitcoin at the start of 2013 grows to about $63.0 million by the end of 2025, roughly 96% a year. The same $10,000 in the S&P 500 grows to about $54,400, roughly 13.9% a year. Bitcoin led over the 3, 5, and 10-year windows ending 2025, but not over 1 year: 2025 was -15% for Bitcoin and +6% for the S&P 500. Bitcoin had four losing calendar years in the period (2014, 2018, 2022, 2025); the S&P 500 had two (2018, 2022).
Bitcoin's worst drawdown from its 2021 peak ($69,000) to its 2022 trough ($16,425) was approximately 76%. Gold's worst drawdown over the same period was approximately 35% (from $2,067 in March 2022 to $1,627 in late 2022). The S&P 500's worst drawdown in 2022 was approximately 25%. For context: Bitcoin's 2014 drawdown from its 2013 high was approximately 85%. All three assets recovered, but the ride quality differs substantially.
Bitcoin ETFs like BTCC.B and FBTC are now tradable commission-free in TFSAs and RRSPs at most Canadian brokerages. Holding Bitcoin inside a TFSA means all gains are permanently tax-free, a significant advantage over taxable accounts where capital gains are taxed at your marginal rate with a 50% inclusion rate. Gold ETFs (like HOU on the TSX) offer similar TFSA/RRSP access but with much lower return potential. The TFSA Bitcoin allocation question is less about asset class choice and more about what percentage of your TFSA room you want to allocate to a higher-volatility, higher-returning asset.
Growth, return, and Sharpe figures in these answers are calculated from the calendar-year table on this page (USD, before fees, taxes, and currency conversion). The drawdown answer quotes intra-year price moves.