Thanksgiving brings families together for turkey, football, and inevitably, someone asking about that hot investment tip you gave them last year. If you were the crypto evangelist at the 2024 table, you might want to volunteer for dish duty this time around.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE) have all taken a beating since last Thanksgiving. That enthusiasm you had around the dinner table in November 2024? Your relatives might have some pointed questions about it now.
The Damage Report
Let's run the numbers on what happened if your family actually listened to you last year. Suppose someone invested $1,000 in each of the three major cryptocurrencies on Thanksgiving 2024.
A $1,000 investment in Bitcoin on Thanksgiving 2024 would have bought 0.0103 BTC. Today, with Bitcoin trading at $89,849.11, that investment is worth $925.45. That's down 7.5% over the year.
A $1,000 investment in Dogecoin tells a much uglier story. That would have purchased 2,340.28 DOGE. At the current price of $0.1549, the investment is worth just $362.51. Down 63.7%. Ouch.
A $1,000 investment in Ethereum would have bought 0.2729 ETH. At today's price of $3,017.69, that stake is worth $823.53, down 17.6% from last Thanksgiving.
Put it all together: a $3,000 investment split across these three well-known cryptocurrencies would be worth $2,111.49 today, down 29.6%. That's the kind of performance that gets you moved to the kids' table.
The Whiplash Year
The irony is that last year, crypto enthusiasts had every reason to feel confident. The timing seemed perfect. Cryptocurrency markets were soaring in November 2024, with some coins hitting all-time highs around the presidential election. The suggestion to invest for more gains in 2025 probably felt like solid advice at many dinner tables.
And really, the previous year had delivered spectacular returns. From Thanksgiving 2023 to Thanksgiving 2024, the gains were impressive across the board:
Those kinds of returns make you look like a genius. They also make this year's decline that much more jarring.
The Crypto Roller Coaster Continues
This volatility isn't exactly new territory for cryptocurrency investors. The pattern over recent Thanksgivings shows just how wild the swings can be.
From Thanksgiving 2022 to Thanksgiving 2023, Bitcoin was up 123.3%, Dogecoin was down 9.2%, and Ethereum was up 70.5%. A $3,000 investment split three ways would have grown to $4,846.24, up 61.5%.
Go back another year, and it gets even uglier than this year's losses. From Thanksgiving 2021 to Thanksgiving 2022, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum fell 72.3%, 64.6%, and 72.5% respectively. That $3,000 investment would have shrunk to just $905.69, down 69.8%.
The lesson? Cryptocurrency remains incredibly volatile, capable of delivering life-changing gains one year and stomach-churning losses the next. If you're heading into Thanksgiving dinner this year and someone asks about your crypto recommendation from 2024, maybe steer the conversation back to football. Or politics. Or literally anything else.