If you had bought Bitcoin when the markets closed on December 10, you would have paid $92,020.95. A week later, at market close on December 17, it was valued at $86,143.76. So your investment would have lost $5,877.19, or about 6.4%.
Does this mean Bitcoin is a bad investment? Or is it too late to achieve great things? This may not happen. But cryptocurrency is not an investment for the faint of heart. Let’s take a look at the history of Bitcoin and its historical performance as an investment.
A Brief Bitcoin History
Bitcoin was launched in 2009, making it older than many people realize. By 2011, Bitcoin traded above $1 for the first time. Since then, Bitcoin has seen considerable volatility – reaching new heights and then falling back to earth.
In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). And in 2025, there has been a lot of news about Bitcoin, including President Donald Trump signing an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
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investing in bitcoin
Given the fact that Bitcoin traded at $1 in 2011 and is now trading at almost $100,000, one can conclude that Bitcoin as an investment has been an incredible success. But nothing is if that isn’t volatile. The ups and downs of cryptocurrencies have made and lost fortunes in a very short period of time, although, understandably, the trajectory has been exponential.
If you look at historical Bitcoin prices you will see alternating gains and losses. For example, in November 2025, Bitcoin traded as high as $111,000 and as low as $80,000.
However, when you look at the longer term, Bitcoin’s upward trajectory becomes more clear. Over the past five years, Bitcoin is up 273.63% as of December 18.
Bitcoin is an interesting investment in many ways, the huge increase in its value being just one of them. It is an investment, but it is also a currency, although it is not tied to any country. It is secure, which makes it safe, but it is also decentralized, which makes it vulnerable to exploitation.
No one knows how high Bitcoin can go, or whether it will fall or not. All we know is that what we’ve seen has been a steep, albeit bumpy, path to the top.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Bought some Bitcoin last week? Here’s how much it’s worth today
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