Invested
$500
What $500 in Ethereum in 2017 became
The ICO boom. Ethereum powered a wave of token sales, rising from under $10 early in the year to over $700 by December as developers flocked to build on it.
If you had put $500 into Ethereum at the start of 2017 — buying around $302 per ETH on August 17, 2017 — you would have acquired roughly 1.6556 ETH. At today's price of $1,795, that position is worth about $2,972, a return of +494% (5.9x your money).
Lump sum vs dollar-cost averaging
The figure above assumes a single lump-sum buy at the start of 2017. If you had instead spread that same $500 into equal weekly purchases from 2017 until today, it would be worth about $1,723. Lump sum usually wins when you happen to buy near a market low, while dollar-cost averaging lowers your risk of buying right before a crash. There's no single right answer — it depends on the entry point and your risk tolerance.
Check any amount, coin, or date
These numbers are real, but they're just one scenario. Use the free DCA calculator to test any investment amount, any cryptocurrency, and any start date — with a live chart, ROI breakdown, and a side-by-side DCA vs lump-sum verdict.