Up isn't winning: only 7 of 30 top tokens beat Bitcoin
Going up in dollars doesn't mean you picked well. Priced in BTC, only 7 of 30 top tokens rose over the past 3 years.
Why compare with BTC
Most of the time, the crypto market moves with BTC. If a token doubled in dollars while BTC tripled, holding the token was the worse deal: you took on the same crypto-market risk and would have done better just holding BTC.
That is why TokenWorth's ⑤ looks at the token ÷ BTC price over the past 3 years (from the first week of trading for tokens listed less than 3 years ago), using weekly closes. Above 0 means it beat BTC; below 0 means it lagged.
All 30 tokens
ZEC+1714.5%
HYPE*+703.8%
XMR+55.6%
TRX+45.9%
BNB+32.3%
NEAR+17.2%
SOL+6.8%
SUI−20.8%
QNT−22.2%
DASH−25.6%
UNI−39.0%
HBAR−39.6%
ETH−46.3%
DOGE−53.2%
DCR−55.4%
LINK−59.5%
ALGO−63.2%
TAO*−65.6%
AVAX−68.9%
BAT−69.1%
ICP−72.1%
ADA−74.1%
IOTA−89.2%
FIL−90.3%
DOT−90.7%
ATOM−91.7%
GRT−92.3%
APT−95.6%
OP−96.9%
STRK*−98.5%* Traded for less than 3 years; measured from the first week
Four things the numbers show
1. Even ETH lagged by 46%
ETH is the second-largest token by market cap. Over 3 years it is −46.3% against BTC, and −17.9% over the last year. Size and name recognition don't mean beating BTC.
2. Seven tokens lost more than 90%
DOT, FIL, ATOM, APT, GRT, STRK and OP are all down more than 90% against BTC. In BTC terms, 1 unit of value 3 years ago is now less than 0.1. In total, 17 tokens lost more than half.
3. Most winners barely added supply
Put ⑤ next to ② (circulating supply growth over the last 12 months):
- Of the 7 tokens that beat BTC, 6 grew their circulating supply by less than 5% last year. The only exception is SOL (7.2%). BNB and HYPE actually shrank.
- Of the 7 tokens that lost more than 90%, 6 grew their circulating supply by more than 12% last year. The only exception is GRT (3.6%). STRK grew by 75.8%.
This doesn't prove that new supply causes price drops: there are only 30 tokens, ② covers just the last 12 months while ⑤ covers 3 years, and many other things move prices. But one part is plain arithmetic: if supply grows 20% in a year, the market cap needs 20% more buying just to keep the price flat. So when you look at a token's price, look at ② and ③a too.
4. One year and three years can tell opposite stories
NEAR is +17% over 3 years but +176% over 1 year; QNT is −22% and +211%; UNI is −39% and +57%. The other way round, SOL is +6.8% over 3 years but −26.1% over 1 year. Where you start can flip the conclusion, so the colors in the table use 3 years and the 1-year number is for reference only.
Read these numbers with care
- Survivorship bias. These 30 tokens were picked by today's market cap. Tokens that ranked high 3 years ago and dropped out are not in the table. Starting from the top 30 of 3 years ago would very likely look worse.
- Different start dates. TAO, STRK and HYPE have traded for less than 3 years and are measured from their first week (marked * in the chart). Don't compare them directly with the 3-year numbers.
- Averages mislead. The average of the 30 tokens is +35%, which looks fine. Remove just one token, ZEC (+1714%), and the average becomes −23%. That is why this article uses the median and counts.
- The past doesn't predict the future. These numbers describe what happened. They don't forecast prices and are not financial advice.
Sources
- All numbers come from the TokenWorth data of 2026-10-25. Each token's values, source links and calculations are on its token page (tap a token in the chart above).
- Indicator definitions and thresholds: the Guide on the homepage.
- Raw data: weekly closes from Binance, Kraken and Hyperliquid (the pair for each token is on its page under ⑤).