If you invested $10K each in XRP (CRYPTO:XRP), Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), and Hyperliquid on January 1, you would have about $35,465 today, which amounts to an 18.22% gain.
However, only one of the coins tipped the investment into profit, as the other two cryptos have dropped 37% on average over the past seven months. So which of the three cryptos would have been the right call in January, and does it still look that way now?
What Would $10,000 Invested in Bitcoin in January Be Worth Today?
Bitcoin traded at $88,764 on January 1, already 30% below the $126,000 ATH it set in October 2025. A $10,000 investment at that price bought 0.1127 BTC, and that position is worth about $7,219 today after the Bitcoin price dropped 28% over the last seven months.
The selling that began in late 2025 carried into January, when investors pulled roughly $1.6 billion from spot Bitcoin ETFs and BTC fell 11.4%. They kept selling through February, and another 14.8% drop left the position at $7,550.
| Month-End | BTC Price | $10,000 Investment Value |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | $88,764 | $10,000 |
| January 31 | $78,647 | $8,860 |
| February 28 | $67,017 | $7,550 |
| March 31 | $68,107 | $7,673 |
| April 30 | $76,297 | $8,595 |
| May 31 | $73,599 | $8,291 |
| June 30 | $58,566 | $6,598 |
| July 31 | $62,897 | $7,086 |
| August 12 | $64,081 | $7,219 |
Buyers came back in March and April, when they put about $3.8 billion into Bitcoin ETFs and pushed BTC above $76,000, which lifted the position back to $8,595.
However, investors pulled $2.9 billion out again in May, then another $4.05 billion in June as BTC fell 20.4% to $58,566. That was Bitcoin’s worst month of 2026 and the low point for the position at $6,598.
BTC held above $58,000 through July and gained 7.4% even though ETF money barely moved, and the funds went on to have their best week since April in the first week of August, taking in $853.54 million.
What Would $10,000 Invested in XRP in January Be Worth Today?
XRP’s price rallied over 25% in the first week of the year from an opening price of $1.88 to $2.35. That $1.88 start bought 5,318 XRP for $10,000, and the position reached $12,519 during the rally.
However, XRP lost around 16% in February as the January rally reversed hard, which is the month XRP has been weakest in for most of its history, something traders call its “February curse.”
The XRP price dipped again in March, down 3.5%, before recovering slightly in April. The CLARITY Act then cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 14, which briefly lifted XRP, but the rally stalled and XRP ended May around $1.33.
In June, XRP dropped 22%, falling from $1.33 to $1.04 as the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate and Bitcoin fell below $59,000 in a broader market sell-off. XRP trades at $1.02 today, leaving the initial position worth $5,425—a 45.8% loss over seven months.
| Month-End | XRP Price | $10,000 Investment Value |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | $1.88 | $10,000 |
| January 31 | $1.66 | $8,803 |
| February 28 | $1.39 | $7,382 |
| March 31 | $1.34 | $7,122 |
| April 30 | $1.37 | $7,279 |
| May 31 | $1.33 | $7,082 |
| June 30 | $1.04 | $5,521 |
| July 31 | $1.06 | $5,650 |
| August 12 | $1.02 | $5,425 |
What Would $10,000 Invested in HYPE in January Be Worth Today?
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token began the year trading around $24, well off its previous September 2025 high of $58.61, after fears about new tokens flooding the market, and investors pulling out of risky assets generally, dragged it down through the winter. A $10k investment in HYPE at $24.20 in January bought 413 HYPE, and that position is now worth roughly $22,821—a 128% gain, which makes HYPE the standout performer of the three tokens.
HYPE rallied 28% in January as the HIP-3 upgrade allowed anyone to list commodities like gold and silver on the Hyperliquid platform. Then, HYPE flatlined in February with a 0.9% gain. However, the HYPE price gained 16.7% in March, and in April, the coin added another 8.8% as trading volume and open interest climbed toward record levels.
| Month-End | HYPE Price | $10,000 Investment Value |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | $24.20 | $10,000 |
| January 31 | $31.01 | $12,816 |
| February 28 | $31.28 | $12,925 |
| March 31 | $36.49 | $15,082 |
| April 30 | $39.69 | $16,403 |
| May 31 | $72.03 | $29,769 |
| June 30 | $64.97 | $26,849 |
| July 31 | $52.63 | $21,750 |
| August 12 | $55.22 | $22,821 |
HYPE broke its old high of $58.61 in May with an 81.5% rally. The rally peaked on June 16, when HYPE reached $73.56—at that price, the $10k investment briefly touched $30,399. HYPE then dipped nearly 10% in June and another 19% in July, before recovering 4.9% so far in August. The coin has been trading sideways since then, testing the $52 price level twice without breaking below it.
Which of Bitcoin, XRP, and HYPE Is the Best Buy Today?
As things currently stand, HYPE seems to be the best buy of the three coins right now. Bitcoin and XRP are both still down for the year and mostly rely on macro catalyst—rate cuts, ETF flows, and the CLARITY Act—that are largely out of their control.
Conversely, the HYPE price is up 128% on the back of measurable platform growth, including record trading volume, record revenue, and a burn mechanism that’s actively shrinking supply. However, HYPE is still down 25% from its June high, and it has been testing the $52 support level for several weeks.
If that support breaks and HYPE falls below $52 without recovering, the price could drop a lot further. The figure to follow is Hyperliquid’s daily trading volume, because the platform uses its trading fees to buy HYPE back off the market. While volume stays above $3–4 billion a day, those buybacks soak up the new tokens released each month. Below that, Bitcoin becomes the more reliable option.
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