The «what if I had bought» calculator: amount, date and the result from our history

How to calculate

Open the calculator from a coin page or at /calculator/ticker. Two fields: «Amount, $» (one hundred dollars by default) and «Purchase date» (a year ago by default). Next to them, quick-date buttons: «a week ago», «a month ago», «three months ago», «six months ago», «a year ago», «three years ago». The result recalculates itself on every change — there is no «calculate» button.

What is shown

• «You would have bought» — how many coins your amount would have got, and «Price then».
• «Worth now» — the same pile of coins at the current price, and «Price now».
• «Result» — the difference in dollars and in percent, green or red.
• «annualised» in brackets — the average yearly return; shown only when more than a month separates the date from today: over short spans it inflates into meaningless numbers.

Where the price on a date comes from

For dates within the last seven days we take a minute candle from our history — «bought yesterday morning» means yesterday morning, not yesterday's close as on most calculators. For dates older than a week — the daily close. The nearest close not later than the chosen date is used; if the history starts later, the page says «No history for that date yet» and names the earliest point.

Ready examples: $100

Under the calculator, the «Ready examples» block follows one hundred dollars over a week, a month, three months, six months, a year and three years, plus «since our history starts» with the date of the first candle. Each row has the percent and «$100 → …». Windows with no history are simply not shown.

A year of buying

The «A year of buying …» block examines the last 365 days (or whatever there is if the history is shorter, but at least twenty days): «Low of the stretch» and «High of the stretch» with dates and the fate of one hundred dollars invested at each point, and «Share of profitable dates» — how many daily closes of the span sit below the current price, i.e. in what share of random dates a purchase would be in profit now. Below that, the instrument's typical daily range and how many dollars a day an invested thousand moves.

Limitations — honestly

• The calculator exists only for instruments with at least a month of history on our side; a new coin does not have one yet.
• No fees, spread or slippage — this is a price, not a trade.
• «Price now» is the composite across venues, as in the screener; on a specific exchange it may differ by fractions of a percent.
• Funding, leverage and futures are not considered: it is buy-and-hold.
• A past result says nothing about the future — the page shows what was, not what will be.

Neighbouring calculators

The «The same calculation for neighbouring instruments» block links to calculators of other instruments in the same category — those that also have a month of history. The «Coin page» link takes you back to the chart, the order book and the description.

Questions and answers