The S&P 500 priced in Bitcoin: 2016 to 2025
Priced in fiat
Priced in sats
The S&P 500 cost $2,176 in 2016 and $6,217 in 2025 — a change of +186% in US dollars across 9 years. The figures are annual averages from S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 (SP500) (series SP500). Measured in dollars, the price rose, peaking in 2025 at $6,217.
Priced in bitcoin, the same thing went from 3.75 BTC in 2016 to 0.061 BTC in 2025 — a change of −98%. That is roughly 61× cheaper in bitcoin terms. The conversion uses the annual average BTC/USD price for each matching year, never a rate borrowed from a different era.
Bitcoin is volatile, and honesty demands showing the steps that ran against the holder. The least flattering single year for this series in bitcoin terms was 2021 to 2022, when the price rose +65% in sats. Over short windows the melting unit can look like the stable one. The direction across the full series is what the chart shows.
At today's spot price, the S&P 500 works out to about 0.118 BTC ($7,575). The same object, the same shelf — a different measuring stick.
| Year | US dollars | In bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $2,176 | 3.75 BTC |
| 2017 | $2,449 | 0.580 BTC |
| 2018 | $2,746 | 0.377 BTC |
| 2019 | $2,913 | 0.392 BTC |
| 2020 | $3,218 | 0.273 BTC |
| 2021 | $4,273 | 0.090 BTC |
| 2022 | $4,099 | 0.148 BTC |
| 2023 | $4,284 | 0.145 BTC |
| 2024 | $5,428 | 0.081 BTC |
| 2025 | $6,217 | 0.061 BTC |
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 (SP500). Bitcoin price = annual average BTC/USD from Kraken weekly closes; “today” uses the current spot (2026-07-09). Full method on the main page.
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