What if you invested in Ethereum in 2017?
ETH-USD · Crypto · Data through 2026-07-01
If you invested $1,000 in Ethereum in 2017
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $3,801(+280.1%)
The S&P 500 returned $3,801 on the same $1,000. S&P 500 outperformed by $301.
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What if Ethereum keeps this up?
Project forward at Ethereum's 14% historical growth rate. See 5-30 year scenarios.
Growth of $1,000
Ethereum vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2017 to present
Year-by-Year Returns
$1,000 invested in Ethereum starting January 2017
| Year | Price | Value | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $447.11 | $1,000 | - |
| 2018 | $1,118.31 | $2,501 | +150.1% |
| 2019 | $107.06 | $239 | -90.4% |
| 2020 | $180.16 | $403 | +68.3% |
| 2021 | $1,314.99 | $2,941 | +629.9% |
| 2022 | $2,688.28 | $6,013 | +104.4% |
| 2023 | $1,586.54 | $3,548 | -41% |
| 2024 | $2,282.54 | $5,105 | +43.9% |
| 2025 | $3,298.27 | $7,377 | +44.5% |
| 2026 | $2,445.09 | $5,469 | -25.9% |
What this return means
Putting $1,000 into Ethereum (ETH-USD) in 2017 returned $3,500. That is a +250.0% gain, a little over 3.5x your money, measured to 2026-07-01.
That is about 14% a year compounded, broadly in line with long-run stock market averages. A plain S&P 500 fund would have grown that $1,000 to about $3,801 instead, beating Ethereum by around $301. The index compounded at about 15% a year, a reminder that a single stock can lag a basket of them.
The path was not smooth. The best single year was 2021 at +629.9%, and the worst was 2019 at -90.4%. At its lowest point the position was down about 90% from an earlier high. Ethereum price history used here starts in 2017; trading on other exchanges before that is not included. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
None of this is a recommendation. It is a record of what already happened, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
What if you invested $100 a month instead?
Most people do not drop a lump sum in on day one. They add a fixed amount every month. Putting $100 into Ethereum at the close of every month from November 2017 through July 2026 means 105 buys and $10,500 contributed over about 8.8 years.
$100/month, dollar-cost averaged
$30,194
+187.6% on $10,500 in
Same $10,500, all in at the start
$36,752
+250.0% on $10,500 in
Going all in at the start beat spreading the buys out by $6,558. That is the usual result when a stock trends up: each monthly buy pays a higher price than the last, so the average cost climbs. Averaging in also meant an average buy price of $544.23 per share across the whole stretch, so the monthly buyer never had to time a single low. Neither number counts dividends, taxes, or trading costs.
Illustrative fixed $100/month example, not a recommendation. Figures are computed from ETH-USD split-adjusted monthly closes through July 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Ethereum at different times
See how the start year changes the outcome
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* Ethereum price data from Yahoo Finance begins in 2017. Earlier trading history from other exchanges is not included. For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.