Research hub
The Bitcoin time machine
2010-2025Source: Coinbase Exchange daily candles; Bitstamp and CoinDesk historical series for 2010-2014Year-end closes from the curated yearly series
Choose a date to travel to
Each option is a year-end close from the canonical record. The set is fixed on purpose: the time machine walks the dates the site has already published rather than inviting a reader to type one in, so every figure it shows can be traced back to the same dataset the tables and charts are built from.
The record for 2010
At the close of 2010 bitcoin traded at $0.30. Across the year it opened at $0.05, reached a high of $0.39 and a low of $0.05, finishing +385.00% against its open.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Year open | $0.05 |
| Year high | $0.39 |
| Year low | $0.05 |
| Year close | $0.30 |
| Calendar-year change | +385.00% |
2010-2025Source: Coinbase Exchange daily candles; Bitstamp and CoinDesk historical series for 2010-2014Annual extremes rounded to the nearest cent
Dated highs and lows in 2010
First quoted market price — $0
17 July 2010. The first price at which bitcoin changed hands on an exchange, when Mt. Gox opened for trading. It is the earliest documented market low and the starting point of the price series.
What the date does and does not tell you
A single date is a snapshot, not a verdict. The record begins in 2010 and runs to 2025, and the same holding measured from a different starting year can look like a triumph or a disaster without a single figure being wrong. That is why the time machine shows the whole year around the date you chose — the open, the extremes and the close — rather than a lone price.
The early rows deserve a caveat. The 2010 to 2014 figures come from a market that was thinly traded, with no established exchange and no reliable settlement price. They are included because they are the widely cited annual extremes, and they should be read as historical reference points rather than as prices anyone could have transacted at size.
Nothing on this page is calculated for you. Every figure is read straight from the curated dataset the rest of the site publishes, and where a calculation would genuinely help, the writing points to a tool that does it properly.
Related reading
- Research HubEvery dataset on the site, with methodology and provenance.
- The Halving Event LabEach halving set against the price record around it, and what the schedule left to demand.
- The Market-Cycle ExplorerEvery completed cycle from low to high, with its duration, gain and following drawdown.
- The Holding-Period ExplorerHow a Bitcoin holding's outcome changes with the window chosen, from one year to a decade.