EXPERIMENT – Tracking 2023 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies – Month Ten – Up +27%
Find the full blog post with all the tables and graphs here.
Welcome to your monthly no-shill data dump: Here's the 9th monthly report for the 2023 Top Ten Experiment featuring BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, BUSD, DOGE, ADA, MATIC, DOT, and LTC.
SNAPSHOTS ALWAYS TAKEN ON FIRST OF THE MONTH (data below reflects 1 NOVEMBER Snapshot).
tl;dr
- What's this all about? I purchased $100 of each of Top 10 Cryptos in Jan. 2018, haven't sold or traded, reporting monthly for nearly 6 years for your reading pleasure. Did the same in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Learn more about the history and rules of the Experiments (including why in the world I would include stablecoins) here. Learn more about the new features in the 2023 Top Ten Experiment here.
- OCTOBER Highlights: A rare all green month, the first since January. BTC takes the monthly victory, followed by MATIC in second place.
- The 2023 portfolio is +27% so far this year compared to +10% from the S&P500. DCA'ing once a year into Top Ten Cryptos for the last 6 years has produced better returns than if you'd done the same with the S&P 500 over the same time period (+103% vs S&P500's +28% – see below for details).
- New feature: Total market cap token AMKT is way out ahead of the 2023 Experiment +86% to +27% in this year’s friendly competition between The Top Ten Portfolio and The Alongside Crypto Market Index Token (AMKT).
Month Ten – Up +27%
https://preview.redd.it/5au6cgtlsi0c1.png?width=973&format=png&auto=webp&s=3abb8eaad609fb883314880daafd23d9a3fb93b5
The 2023 Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Portfolio is BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, BUSD, DOGE, ADA, MATIC, DOT, LTC.
October highlights for the 2023 Top Ten Portfolio:
- An all green month, the first since January.
- BTC takes the monthly victory, followed by MATIC in second place
- BTC solidifies its overall 2023 lead, XRP in second place.
October Ranking and Dropouts
Here’s a look at the movement in the ranks ten months into the 2023 Top Ten Index Fund Experiment:
https://preview.redd.it/i107gr0qsi0c1.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc47d06d350c0f029d88fa9fc154f0d05e036e74
October Winners and Losers
October Winner – BTC (+30%) outperformed the field this month, followed by MATIC (+20%)
October Loser – LTC underperformed its peers this month, but still gained +4%.
Overall Update: BTC solidifies its lead over XRP, 80% of cryptos in the green or near break even.
Although it has been a battle for much of 2023, this month Bitcoin (+114%) finally put some distance between itself and second place XRP (+88%). have been battling for the 2023 lead. The initial $100 invested in BTC ten months ago is worth $213 today.
Three months ago, MATIC was the only Top Ten crypto in the red. DOGE, LTC, and BNB have joined the club, but most are within striking distance of the break even point.
MATIC remains the worst performer of this year’s Top Ten Experiment, -12% so far in 2023. For some perspective on MATIC’s decline, it was in the lead seven months ago.
Overall return on $1,000 investment since January 1st, 2023:
https://preview.redd.it/hkgl9cdrsi0c1.png?width=307&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc0434ad839c0b8a41bc6eddca47aa8d501da12e
The 2023 Top Ten Portfolio picked up $152 bucks in October. The initial $1000 investment on New Year’s Day 2023 is now worth $1,268, +27% year to date.
Here’s a visual summary of the progress so far:
https://preview.redd.it/u0lmzfgssi0c1.png?width=244&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ca486fcf6a34f32a6650bc213ed4467ce94bf76
NEEDS UPDATING – 2023 Top Ten Portfolio vs. The Alongside Crypto Market Index Token (AMKT)
New feature this year – The first Top Ten Crypto Experiment was started on 1 January 2018 in an attempt to capture the gains of the entire market. Much has changed over the last six years, including the introduction of index products designed to capture the entire crypto market (instead of manually buying coins and tokens like I do for my Experiments).
This year’s friendly competition is between The 2023 Top Ten Portfolio and The Alongside Crypto Market Index Token (AMKT). AMKT is an ERC-20 token that represents a cap weighted index of 15 Cryptocurrencies (minus stablecoins) backed 1:1 by the underlying assets represented within the index and completely onchain. Since the index represents approximately 95% of the value within crypto, AMKT is an excellent proxy for the entire cryptocurrency market – exactly what my Top Ten Portfolios have been trying to recreate from the start.
To mirror traditional index fund products, AMKT also provides a 5% APR match, essentially creating its own dividend.
Here’s the question I’m tracking this year: would I have been better off with $1,000 of AMKT instead of creating a homemade $1,000 Top Ten Index Fund?
On 1 January 2023, $1000 was equal to 17.15 AMKT. Ten months into the Experiment, AMKT is really starting to pull ahead of my Top Ten. Here’s the snapshot:
https://preview.redd.it/b2x25pitsi0c1.png?width=507&format=png&auto=webp&s=78b99b4fb22c8bd3479e811feed795b6196fda4c
October Performances:
- The 2023 Top Ten Portfolio: +14%
- AMKT: +25%
The monthly victory goes to: The Alongside Crypto Market Index Token (AMKT)
Overall since January 1st, 2023:
- The 2023 Top Ten Portfolio: current value $1,268 (+27%)
- AMKT: current value $1,857 (+86%)
Overall lead: The Alongside Crypto Market Index Token (AMKT)
For the more visual, here’s the table I’ll be using to track the friendly Top Ten vs. AMKT competition this year:
https://preview.redd.it/w0vhsdkusi0c1.png?width=813&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4eed54a1937d6bdd4dc9878bb65eb75a4442dea
Combining the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Top Ten Crypto Portfolios
The 2023 Top Ten is one of six concurrent experimental portfolios. Where do we stand if we combine all of the Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Experiments?
- 2018 Top Ten Experiment: down -31% (total value $690)
- 2019 Top Ten Experiment: up +271% (total value $3,713)
- 2020 Top Ten Experiment: up +341% (total value $4,407) (best performing portfolio)
- 2021 Top Ten Experiment: up +77% (total value $1,768)
- 2022 Top Ten Experiment: down -68% (total value $318) (worst performing portfolio)
- 2023 Top Ten Experiment: up +27% (total value $1,268)
Taking the six portfolios together, here’s the bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom line:
After a $6,000 total investment in the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies, the combined portfolios are worth $12,164.
That’s up +103% on the combined portfolios, up substantially from last month. The peak for the combined Top Ten Index Fund Experiment Portfolios was November 2021’s all time high of +533%.
Here’s the combined monthly ROI since I started tracking the metric in January 2020 for those who do better with visuals:
https://preview.redd.it/8wo8njtvsi0c1.png?width=1198&format=png&auto=webp&s=b4e4bcaea35edf6febf83fa2c5ce20ff62b82ffc
In summary: That’s a +103% gain by investing $1k on whichever cryptos happened to be in the Top Ten on January 1st (including stablecoins) for six straight years.
Comparison to S&P 500
I’m also tracking the S&P 500 as part of my Experiment to have a comparison point to traditional markets.
https://preview.redd.it/uz2o34j1ti0c1.png?width=1076&format=png&auto=webp&s=6feec0931118cdf1b6c34f2e6f767351a9dcb00d
The S&P 500 is up +10% so far in 2023, compared to the Top Ten Crypto portfolio’s +27%. The initial $1k investment into crypto on New Year’s Day would be worth $1,100 had it been redirected to the S&P.
Taking the same invest-$1,000-on-January-1st-of-each-year approach with the S&P 500 that I’ve been documenting through the Top Ten Crypto Experiments, the yields are the following:
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2018 = $1,590 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2019 = $1,690 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2020 = $1,310 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2021 = $1,130 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2022 = $890 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2023 = $1,100 today
Taken together, here’s the bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom line for a similar approach with the S&P:
After six $1,000 investments into an S&P 500 index fund in January 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 my portfolio would be worth $7,710.
That is up +28% since January 2018 compared to a +103% gain of the combined Top Ten Crypto Experiment Portfolios. Of interest, these are exactly the same levels as May 2023.
The visual below shows a comparison on ROI between a Top Ten Crypto approach and the S&P as per the rules of the Top Ten Experiments:
https://preview.redd.it/0uq00iw2ti0c1.png?width=1256&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b9b822cbe1b571b311c10431a08a21cda14a6e7
Conclusion:
To the long time followers of the Top Ten Experiments, thank you for sticking around so long. For those just getting into crypto, I hope these reports will help prepare you for the highs and lows that await on your crypto adventures. Buckle up, go with the flow, think long term, and truly don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose. Most importantly, try to enjoy the ride.
A reporting note: I’ll focus on 2023 Top Ten Portfolio reports + one other portfolio on a rotating basis this year, so expect two reports per month. October’s extended report covers the 2022 Top Ten Portfolio, which you can access here. You can check out the latest 2018 Top Ten, 2019 Top Ten, 2020 Top Ten, and 2021 Top Ten reports as well.
Bonus stats, frens. As of 1 Nov 2023:
I love this kind of data projects. Good work
Thank you! Didn’t know about the AMK token
YOURE GOING TO MAKE IT
I think by January/February I think all of the holdings will be back in the green.
Thanks for continuing to update us on this project! Great work!
Great work as always!!
Where is that yield on AMKT coming from if it is 100% backed by the tokens?
If you can’t find the yield, you are the yield.
Why do you not see such posts from people who bought on January 1st 2022?
I always love these posts
No Solana? Not a fan but it’s done well YTD.
Bullish on BUSD!
Hands down the best post on Reddit concerning crypto in any subcrypto post, I always look forward to your posts and I always find them interesting and informative!
How many went to look for AMKT, how many have bought, indeed, is this a coin you can buy, if so, where?
Don’t really understand why you would initially include stablecoins in this, why not just ignore it?
If SOL was in that top ten in January your portfolio would be up a lot more.
I love these posts. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
I think you should start comparing it to NASDAQ in addition to the S&P 500.
S&P 500 is filled with too much stagnant garbage.
As always, great work and I love seeing your posts.
now imagine if u were on 20x leverage tho 🤣
Love the commitment, dedication, details, & most of all the work you put into this. Such a simple investment experiment that gives so much insight in the crypto & stock market due to your level of detail while observing & collecting data with the 2 accounts. Great stuff man
This is the kind of posts that makes me come back to the sub. Thanks a lot OP.
Great work will always pay off. Keep riding
I was sceptical but Uptober really lived up to the hype.
Damn. I bought Solana like a month ago.
Doo eeeet
Fantastic
You forgot to add “So you didn’t have to”
Yesss the quality content I come here for
Great data. Looks like you’d have had a portfolio value of $22,078 if those were only btc purchases on Jan 1 each year instead of the $12k portfolio you have now…. Probably a lesson here… 🤔
27% isn’t bad at all. This reminds me of those guys in a suit, pretty clever, with computational models buying stocks getting -10%.
Why did you include BUSD? Apart from that good work.
BUSD lol
EDIT: For context, I made the same mistake the first time I bought alt-coins. I was so confused of why is it not moving??? It’s basically like not investing at all.
Love the posts and effort man!
Maybe i missed it as I read this one quickly. But rather than comparing to the S&P (or in addition to), how does the top 10 stack up against a bitcoin only? I seem to remember that was one of your main reasons for doing this is to see if BTC only was outperformed by top 10.
great post as usual, keep up the informative work, thank you!
I wish I could do justify an alternative experiment of either $10 of the top 100 or $20 of the top 50 to see how it would compare. I would argue once they make it into the top 10 the potential, which still high, is exponentially lower. Like, going into the top 10 is what has to go have the greatest % increase
Good metrics, great experiment, thank you!
Thats sad. After 6 years in crypto you only doubled your investment from $6K to $12K? Most people did 10x-30x last bull run. Did you sleep under a rock?
Christ I forgot BUSD used to be in the top 10
Nice insight, great data to share w no coiners
Look forward to two Top Ten reports per month. They may not be as amusing as Letterman’s Top Ten, but they’re certainly more well-researched and informative. Thanks!
What are the odds LTC gets mainstream adopting from the big banks and what not it’s been around for a while and it has amazing transactions when congested not to mention it’s been very reasonable with it’s volatility
Crazy part is, you would have had more money if you had only bought BTC lol
1st mistake. You didn’t buy link. Up 50% maybe more from Jan 23
We appreciate you doing the lord’s work🙏🏾👍🏾💯