Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm and chief among them is bitcoin, which had the first mover advantage and is the world's largest cryptocurrency with a 'market cap' of USD$278.9 billion.
Its performance in 2017 has been nothing short of breathtaking since starting the year at a price of US$997 and recently trading at US$16,514. That's a phenomenal 1,556% increase (over 15 times your money!).
Its not everyday that you can find a financial instrument that can beat that sort of return but here are two cryptocurrencies that have done exactly that:
- Ethereum which is the second-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of USD$45 billion is up 4,266% (42 times your money) having started the year at US$10.72 and recently trading at US$469.
- Litecoin is up over 3,000% (30 times your money) this year having started the year at US$4.33 and recently trading at US$163. Litecoin has a market cap of nearly US$9 billion.
To put that into context, the S&P 500 is up 17% this year while Apple, Amazon and Facebook are all up more than 50% this year alone. Locally, Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) (up 237%) and the a2 Milk Company Ltd (Australia) (ASX: A2M) (up 208%) have done very well, whilst the ASX 200 has been a relative under performer with an 8% increase over the year.
The ASX 200 was dragged down by stocks such as Retail Food Group Limited (ASX: RFG) and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX: MYX) which dropped by more than 50%.
Foolish takeaway
- Think beyond the local share market. The investment universe is huge and there is a world full of opportunities out there.
- Indexing doesn't give the best results. Whilst good for low cost diversification and useful for investors who do not have the time to research investment ideas, indexing (by definition) will not provide the best performance.
- Cryptocurrencies are like Tech stocks in the '90s. The technology is here to stay, it will likely get bigger but there will be winners and losers. One just hopes we haven't reached the point of irrational exuberance.
