Bitcoin Holders With 3+ Year Timeframes Almost Never Lose Money, Data Shows

A new chart shared by Bitcoin Magazine highlights one of the strongest long-term trends in the crypto market: investors who hold Bitcoin for at least three years have historically faced near-zero chances of negative returns.

The data, compiled from BTC daily closes between 2010 and 2025, reinforces the long-held belief that Bitcoin rewards patience far more than short-term trading.

Chart Shows Sharp Drop in Risk the Longer BTC Is Held

The chart breaks down the probability of negative returns across different holding periods. Short-term windows carry substantial risk, with roughly 47% of one-day traders and 44% of one-week traders ending up with losses. Even one-month and one-quarter holders still see notable probabilities of being in the red, at 42.2% and 36.5% respectively.

The risk drops dramatically once the timeframe stretches to one year, where the probability of losing money falls to 23.5%. From there, the trend becomes overwhelmingly favorable:

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  3-year holders: 0.7% chance of negative returns
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  5-year holders: 0.2% chance
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  10-year holders: 0.0% chance

The data clearly shows that volatility becomes less punishing, and long-term adoption more dominant, as the holding horizon increases.

Why This Matters for Bitcoin Investors

The insight underscores a central narrative around Bitcoin: short-term trading is unpredictable, but long-term conviction has historically paid off. Large drawdowns, market cycles, and macro-driven corrections often shake out new participants, while long-term holders benefit from Bitcoin’s structural growth and supply-driven scarcity.

The sharp decline in negative-return probabilities after the three-year mark reflects:

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  Bitcoin’s broader adoption curve
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  Its cyclical four-year halving cycles
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  Persistent institutional demand
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  Increasing integration across global markets

This dynamic is why the crypto community often encourages newcomers to take a long-term view, as reflected in Bitcoin Magazine’s conclusion: “This is why we HODL.”

A Decade of Historical Data Supports the Trend

Because the analysis spans 2010 to 2025, it captures multiple market eras, early speculative phases, the ICO boom, the COVID era liquidity cycles, the ETF-driven inflows of 2024–2025, and Bitcoin’s evolution into a recognized global asset. Despite multiple crashes and deep bear markets along the way, the long-term charts consistently show that multi-year holders nearly always emerge profitable.

As Bitcoin approaches another halving cycle in 2028, these data points may play a bigger role in shaping investor strategy, especially among those looking past the daily volatility and focusing on Bitcoin’s decade-long performance curve.