A year ago, it was hard to be optimistic about any sort of investment.
As the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic began to crystallize in people’s minds, everyone was selling. Trading on Wall Street lasted less than five minutes before it came to screeching halt and circuit breakers kicked in. It wouldn’t be the last time we heard that term. Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell to a two-month low that day, dipping to $7,700.
Everything, of course, bounced back in a big way. And that, no one could have predicted. It was hard to find a buyer on March 9, 2020. But we got to wondering…What if you had bought that day?
Bitcoin
It probably comes as no surprise that the cryptocurrency would have showed the biggest returns, given its explosive growth in 2021. A $1,000 investment a year ago would be worth over $7,021 today.
Nasdaq
Nasdaq has had a fairly rough time in 2021, but it’s still ahead of where it was a year ago—and it’s still the market that has shown the biggest recovery. The index closed at 7,950.68 on March 9, making a $1,000 investment then worth $1,617 today. Had you bought at the low on March 23, that would be worth $1,898.
Dow Jones industrial average
The Dow closed at 23,851.02 on March 9, but that was just the beginning of the dip. Buying an index fund that day would still have returned a tidy profit to you, as the $1,000 would now be worth $1,346. (Incidentally, if you bought at the Dow’s lowest point, which was also on March 23, that investment would be worth $1,727.)
S&P 500
The S&P index ended the trading day at 2,746.56 a year ago. A $1,000 investment at that point would be worth $1,417 today. (The S&P also hit its low on, you guessed it, March 23. An investment then would be worth $1,740.)
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
- Bitcoin at $1 million? One CEO says it could happen within 10 years
- How Square’s deal with Tidal could help musicians make a lot more money
- Airlines? Tech? Cruise lines? Where investors see the most upside in the stock market in 2021
- A looming “iceberg”: How a spike in interest rates makes America’s soaring debt a lot more dangerous
- Two age-old European trading rivals are at loggerheads again—this time over SPACs