Crypto ROI Calculator
Calculate the exact Return on Investment for your crypto assets, including annualized performance.
Enter your initial investment and current value to calculate your ROI.
A 300% return sounds spectacular until you learn it took eight years. Return on investment tells you how much you made; annualised return tells you whether it was actually any good. This calculator gives you both, so you can compare a crypto position against literally anything else.
ROI versus annualised return
ROI is simple: what you gained divided by what you put in. Turn $5,000 into $12,500 and your ROI is 150%. That number is honest but incomplete, because it says nothing about time. 150% over one year is exceptional. 150% over ten years is roughly 9.6% annually — respectable, but a plain index fund would have matched it without the volatility or the sleepless nights. Annualised return, or CAGR, strips out the time dimension so comparisons become possible. It answers: what steady annual rate would have produced this same result? Once you have that number, you can hold your crypto position against stocks, bonds, property, or your savings account and see the truth. Most people never calculate it, which is why so many are convinced they are doing better than they are.
The formula
Profit = Final Value − Initial Investment
ROI = Profit ÷ Initial × 100
Multiplier = Final ÷ Initial
Annualised (CAGR) = ((Final ÷ Initial)^(1/years) − 1) × 100
Example: $5,000 → $12,500 over 3 years
ROI = 150%
Multiplier = 2.5×
CAGR = (2.5^(1/3) − 1) = 35.7% per yearCAGR assumes smooth compounding, which crypto never does. It is a comparison tool, not a description of the path — your actual journey was almost certainly far more violent than 35.7% a year suggests.
Measuring returns honestly
- 1Always annualise before comparing. A 200% gain over five years is 24.6% a year — good, but not the life-changing number the headline suggests, and comparable to a strong equity run.
- 2Include your costs in the initial investment. Trading fees, network fees, and any tax already paid are real capital you deployed. Excluding them inflates your ROI and flatters your judgement.
- 3Compare against the benchmark, not against zero. If Bitcoin doubled and your altcoin gained 50%, you underperformed the obvious alternative. Beating 'not investing' is a low bar.
- 4Unrealised returns are opinions. Your position is up 400% until it is down 20% and you never sold. ROI on paper and ROI in your bank account are different numbers.
- 5Remember survivorship bias in your own portfolio. It is easy to calculate ROI on your winner and forget the four positions that went to zero. Measure the whole portfolio, not the best part of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ROI for crypto?
There is no fixed answer, but context helps: the S&P 500 has returned roughly 10% a year long-term. If your crypto position is not meaningfully beating that on an annualised basis, you are taking dramatically more risk for no additional reward.
What is the difference between ROI and CAGR?
ROI is total return over the whole period, ignoring time. CAGR is the equivalent smooth annual rate. ROI tells you what happened; CAGR lets you compare it to other investments over different timeframes.
Should I use the price I paid or including fees?
Including fees. Your true cost basis is everything you spent to acquire the position — the purchase price plus trading fees plus any network fees. That is the capital that was actually at risk.
Does this account for tax?
No. This is your gross return. If you sell, capital gains tax applies in most jurisdictions and can take a meaningful bite. Your after-tax annualised return is the number that actually determines your outcome.
Why does my CAGR look low despite a big gain?
Because of how long it took. Compounding is unforgiving about time. A 5× return over ten years is 17.5% a year — excellent, but far less dramatic than '400% profit' sounds. That gap is exactly why annualising matters.