What if you invested in PayPal in 2023?
PYPL · Financial · Data through 2026-06-01
If you invested $1,000 in PayPal in 2023
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $1,916(+91.6%)
The S&P 500 returned $1,916 on the same $1,000. S&P 500 outperformed by $1,384.
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Growth of $1,000
PayPal vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2023 to present
Year-by-Year Returns
$1,000 invested in PayPal starting January 2023
| Year | Price | Value | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $80.79 | $1,000 | - |
| 2024 | $60.82 | $753 | -24.7% |
| 2025 | $87.82 | $1,087 | +44.4% |
| 2026 | $52.36 | $648 | -40.4% |
What this return means
A $1,000 bet on PayPal (PYPL) at the start of 2023 did not work out. That stake is worth $533 as of 2026-06-01, a -46.7% move that left you with less than you started with after 3.6 years.
That averages out to -16.1% a year, meaning the position shrank in compound terms across the 3.6-year window. The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund would be about $1,916 over the identical span, so the index came out ahead by roughly $1,384. The index compounded at about 19.9% a year, a reminder that a single stock can lag a basket of them.
Getting here meant sitting through real volatility. The best single year was 2025 at +44.4%, and the worst was 2024 at -24.7%. At its lowest point the position was down about 40% from an earlier high. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
This is historical math, not financial advice. 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 PayPal at the close of every month from January 2023 through June 2026 means 42 buys and $4,200 contributed over about 3.5 years.
$100/month, dollar-cost averaged
$2,858
-32.0% on $4,200 in
Same $4,200, all in at the start
$2,238
-46.7% on $4,200 in
Spreading the buys out beat going all in at the start by $620. That happens when the price spent time below where it began, so averaging in caught the cheaper months. Averaging in also meant an average buy price of $63.26 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 PYPL split-adjusted monthly closes through June 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
PayPal at different times
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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.