January 20, 2025. Donald Trump walks back into the White House. Bitcoin is touching $109,000. Gold is steady at $2,697 an ounce. And a meme coin bearing the president's name is a few days old
January 20, 2025. Donald Trump walks back into the White House. Bitcoin is touching $109,000. Gold is steady at $2,697 an ounce. And a meme coin bearing the president's name is a few days old and trading around $35, already down sharply from its launch peak of $74.
Six months on, those three assets have gone in three completely different directions. Here is what $10,000 in each one looks like today.
On inauguration day, Bitcoin opened around $102,000. A $10,000 investment bought roughly 0.098 BTC. Today, with Bitcoin trading near $60,000, that position is worth approximately $5,880, a loss of just over 41%.
The irony runs deep. Trump entered office as the most crypto-friendly president in U.S. history. He signed executive orders supporting the industry, established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and pushed through the GENIUS Act for stablecoins.
Bitcoin still lost nearly half its value on his watch. Rising Treasury yields, institutional profit-taking, and selling pressure tied to Strategy's $14 billion unrealized loss position have weighed heavily throughout his term.
Related: SpaceX moves Bitcoin amid possible market crash
Gold was the quiet winner nobody put in their inauguration-day portfolio. At $2,697 per ounce on January 20, $10,000 bought 3.71 ounces. Today gold trades around $4,110, making that position worth approximately $15,248, a gain of about 52%.
The driver is everything Trump's presidency brought with it: tariff wars, geopolitical tension, U.S.-Iran military strikes, and persistent inflation keeping the Fed cautious. Every time uncertainty spiked, gold climbed. The metal hit an all-time high of $5,597 in January 2026 before pulling back. For an asset dismissed as boring, it has been the standout trade of the cycle.
Trending on TheStreet RoundtableThe TRUMP meme coin launched two days before inauguration day and peaked at $74.27 within 48 hours. By January 20 it had already crashed to around $35. A $10,000 investment bought roughly 285 coins. Today those coins are worth approximately $430, a loss of 96%.
Nearly one million people bought the coin. Analytics firm Nansen found that their combined losses total $3.81 billion. Trump himself cleared more than $635 million from the same token. The trade worked out for one side of the table.
Six months of the most crypto-friendly administration in American history: Bitcoin down 41%, gold up 52%, Trump Coin down 96%. The market rarely gives you the story you expect.
Related: This is what $1,000 investment in Strategy 10 years ago is worth today
