Year-to-Date Total Return

Year-to-date compares the current composite price with the provider's first recorded price of the calendar year. It exists because readers are used to calendar-year framing from other markets. In a market that trades continuously and has no fiscal reporting cycle, the January 1 anchor carries no economic meaning.

How it is computed

(price now / price at the start of the calendar year - 1) x 100

Where it misleads

The start point is an arbitrary calendar boundary in a market with no fiscal year, no reporting season, and no closing auction, so the anchor is a provider snapshot that differs visibly between sources. In January the figure rests on a handful of days and swings violently; in December it is nearly a one-year return, so the same column means different things at different times of year. Comparing year-to-date returns between a digital asset and an equity or fund also compares a continuously traded series with one that was closed on New Year's Day. Staking rewards, airdrops, and fork distributions are excluded.

The equity comparison, and why it fails

Year-to-date total return for a stock or fund; the equity figure starts from an official prior-year close and includes reinvested dividends, while this starts from a continuously traded snapshot and includes no protocol rewards.

Reading a high or a low value

A positive figure means the price is above where it began the calendar year; a negative one means below. Its stability depends heavily on how much of the year has elapsed.