$100 Challenge: Bitcoin vs Gold vs Silver vs S&P 500 vs Nvidia Since 2016
Published 10 September 2026 · Numbers update daily · 3 minute read
The short answer: put $100 into each on 1 January 2016 and the scoreboard today looks like this. It is live, so check back after a bad week.
| Asset | $100 today | Return | Peak | Max drawdown from top |
|---|
Reading the table honestly
Return is the headline, drawdown is the cost of earning it. Gold and the S&P 500 rarely lose half their value from a peak. Bitcoin and single stocks like Nvidia routinely do, and the holder who collects the big number is the one who did not sell during those stretches.
Dividends are excluded, which understates the index. Storage costs are excluded, which flatters the metals. Tax is excluded for everyone. If you want to change the start date or the amount, the time machine does that in one click, and every result has a share card.
Related reading: Bitcoin vs gold in a crisis and Bitcoin vs the Nasdaq 100.
Daily closes from Interactive Brokers, Yahoo Finance and Binance. Split adjusted, no dividends, fees or tax. Bitcoin before September 2014 uses monthly reference prices. Entertainment, not financial advice.