First month - Decrease -24%
Welcome to the first monthly update of the brand new 2022 Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Experiment!
The 2022 Top Ten Crypto Indices Fund Portfolio is BTC, ETH, BNB, Solana, ADA, USDC, XRP, LUNA, DOT, AVAX
January Highlights for the 2022 Top Ten Portfolio:
- Rough start for 2022 Top Ten portfolio, down almost a quarter to end of January.
- USDC is the only crypto in the green
- Traditional markets are also down, but not as much as crypto
January ranking and relegation
Here's a look at the chart movement one month into the 2022 Top Ten Index Fund Experiment:
A little internal shuffling, but not much movement in January.
January winners and losers
January winners – As crypto has fallen this month, an easy win for USDC. I also managed to make about +16% from bonuses and interest (more on that below).
January losers – LUNA was broken in January, losing about -41% of its value.
General update - Bloody start to 2022: 90% from the top ten in red.
Unlike January 2021, this year is off to a very shaky start. It's never a good sign when the top spot of the month is a stablecoin ( USDC ).
LUNA is at the bottom, down from -41% in one month. The original $100 invested in LUNA thirty days ago, today they are worth $59.
Factoring USDC earnings
New feature this year! – In recent years, I have not included the ROI that is possible with stablecoins in the monthly reports. These days there are many ways to earn ROI using only stables. I think this could be particularly interesting this year, depending on how the crypto market performs.
For the 2022 Top Ten experiment, I will detail the ways to upgrade the $100 USDC , starting with the simplest strategies. As we go through the year, I'll be sharing more and more advanced methods to increase USDC . My goal on this little side quest will be to beat the ROI of as many of the volatile cryptocurrencies in the experiment as possible. A simple task if 2022 ends up being a bear year, a bit more difficult if the crypto market emerges.
January – One of the easiest methods to earn from stables (or any cryptocurrency) is to take advantage of sign-up bonuses on various platforms, many of which can be triggered with a small initial investment.
As detailed in the post to announce the 2022 Top Ten Index Fund. , I purchased $100 from USDC via BlockFi. I registered using promotional code and got $10 in BTC , which I immediately converted to USDC . These codes are everywhere online (or just ask a friend).
Since the BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) also pays 8,75% APY for stablecoins, the current running total on initial purchase of $100 USDC is: $110,64
There is another promo code on BlockFi where you can get $15 in BTC per $100, but this bonus may take up to three months. Going for the bonus from $15 might make more sense after you've gotten bonuses from other platforms.
Something you should know: US-based BlockFi customers are currently not allowed to add funds to BIA due to US regulations. BlockFi is currently in the process of registering with the SEC to offer interest through BlockFi Yield, which will replace the BIA. Bonuses still valid.
Top Ten 2022 Portfolio by Total Crypto Token Market Cap (TCAP)
Another new feature this year! – The first Top Ten Crypto Experiment was launched on January 1, 2018 in an attempt to capture the gains of the entire market. A lot has changed in the last four+ years, including innovative decentralized finance (DeFi) projects that have created index tokens to capture segments of the crypto market (DeFi, Metaverse, Blue Chips, etc.) instead of manually buying coins and tokens, e.g. I do for my experiments.
A project of particular interest for the top ten experiments is the Total Crypto Market Cap token ( TCP ), created by Cryptex, which tracks the entire crypto market – exactly what my Top Ten Portfolios have been trying to recreate since the beginning.
I thought it would be interesting to compare my 2022 Top Ten Crypto Index Fund home experiment with the token TCP for a little friendly competition. Here is the question I will be following this year: would I be better off with the $1000 TCAP instead of trying to create a homemade $1,000 Top Ten Index Fund?
January:
Since most of the cryptocurrency is in the red as well TCP both the token and the 2022 Top Ten portfolio were hit hard, with -20% and -24% respectively. Ultimately, round 1 goes to the TCAP token of Cryptex . Visually below:
Dominance of Bitcoin:
BitDom started 2022 at 40.2% and gained one percentage point in January, ending the month at 41.2%.
For those new to crypto, the Bitcoin Dominance figure is worth paying attention to as it signals the appetite for altcoins vs BTC.
Total return on investment of $1000 as of January 1, 2022:
Unlike the 2021 Top Ten experiment ( which increased by +51% in its first month ), the 2022 portfolio starts rough: the initial investment of $1000 on New Year 2022 is already worth $762 , which is down from -24%.
Combining 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 Top Ten Crypto Wallets
So where are we if we combine five years of experiments with the top ten crypto index funds?
- Experiment with the top ten of 2018 yr: increase by +4% (total value $1035)
- 2019 Top Ten Experiment: Up +364% (Total $4639)
- 2020 Top Ten Experiment: Up +577% (Total 6766 $)
- 2021 Top Ten Experiment: +201% Boost ($3009 Total)
- 2022 Top Ten Experiment: reduction -25% (total value $747)
Taking the five portfolios together, here is the bottom bottom bottom lower row:
After an investment of $5000 in the top ten cryptocurrencies of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, combined portfolios are worth $16 196.
It is +224 up for the combined portfolios.
For context, it is up quite a bit from a year ago (+127%), but away lower than November high of +553% . To give you an idea of the whole journey, here are the compounded monthly returns since I started tracking the benchmark in January 2020:
That's +224% profit by buying $1k of the Top Ten cryptocurrencies (including stablecoins) on January 1, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Comparison with the S&P 500
I also track the S&P 500 as part of my experiment to have a point of comparison with traditional markets.
The S&P 500 is down -5% so far in 2022, so an initial $1,000 cryptocurrency investment on New Year's Day would be worth $950 if diverted to the S&P.
Taking the same investment approach of $1,000 on January 1 of each year with the S&P 500 that I documented through the top ten crypto experiments, the returns are:
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1, 2018 = $1700 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1, 2019 = $1810 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1, 2020 = $1410 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1, 2021 = $1210 today
- $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1, 2022 = $950 today
Taken together, here's the bottom bottom bottom bottom lower line for a similar approach with the S&P:
After five investments of $1000 in an S&P 500 index fund in January 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, my portfolio would be worth $7,080.
This is with +42% more than January 2018 compared to +224% profit from the combined top ten crypto experimental wallets.
Here's a nifty new chart showing a combined comparison of investment returns between a top ten crypto approach and the S&P according to the rules of the top ten experiments:
conclusion:
To the longtime followers of Top Ten Experiments, thank you so much for sticking around this long. For those new to cryptocurrency, I hope these reports will help you prepare for the highs and lows that await you in your crypto adventures. Buckle up, go with the flow, think long term, don't invest what you can't afford to lose, and most importantly, try to enjoy the ride!
Report Note: I will be focusing on the 2022 Top Ten Portfolio reports + one more portfolio on a rotating basis this year, so expect only two reports from me per month. This month's extended report was on the 2018 Top Ten portfolio, which is almost down to the breakeven point. Read all the gory details here .
Feel free to reach out with any questions and stay tuned for progress reports. Follow my side projects tracking the top ten cryptocurrencies from January 1, 2018 (the OG experiment), January 1, 2019 Mr. January 1, 2020 d. and at the latest January 1, 2022 Mr.