Best and worst year for Bitcoin
+5,429%
Updated July 1, 2026 · closing prices (not exportable), in U.S. dollars
Bitcoin's best year was 2013, when it rose 5,429%; the worst was 2018, fell 73%. In dollars, with the series since 2011.
Bitcoin's return for each calendar year, in dollars — the best and worst year. Each year is December's close over the prior December's, since 2011.
Bitcoin's best and worst years sit only a few months apart in its history. Its biggest annual gain came in 2013, when it rose more than fifty-fold in a single year; the more famous 2017 mania — retail buying, the ICO boom and breathless coverage — pushed it to a then-record near $20,000. The deepest annual losses came in 2018, when that bubble unwound, and again in 2022, when rising rates and a string of crypto failures wiped out most of the prior cycle's advance. The series here begins in 2011, so the earliest moonshots predate it. The durable lesson is the spread itself: a single year can multiply or halve the position, and that range dwarfs any long-run average drawn from it.
Return by year
Every year
| Year | Return (USD) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 · partial | -27% | |
| 2025 | -6% | |
| 2024 | +121% | |
| 2023 | +156% | |
| 2022 | -64% | |
| 2021 | +60% | |
| 2020 | +302% | |
| 2019 | +94% | |
| 2018 | -73% | worst |
| 2017 | +1,319% | |
| 2016 | +124% | |
| 2015 | +34% | |
| 2014 | -56% | |
| 2013 | +5,429% | best |
| 2012 | +189% | |
| 2011 · partial | -5% |
Nominal return in dollars for each year (December over the prior December); the first year uses the series' effective entry. "Partial" years lack a full year of data and are excluded from best/worst.
Frequently asked questions
What was Bitcoin's best year?
2013, with +5,429% in dollars. It uses December's close over the prior December's.
And Bitcoin's worst year?
2018, with -73%. Bad years happen: the table shows every one, best to worst.
Are the returns adjusted for inflation?
No — these are nominal yearly returns in dollars. For the real gain, remove that year's inflation (CPI).
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Descriptive, educational content computed from official public data. Not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.