Holding (HODL)
Buying and keeping an investment through the ups and downs, without selling in a panic.
It comes from a famous typo: in 2013, on a bitcoin forum, someone wrote HODL instead of hold. It stuck as a word for sticking it out.
Staying put is hard because the best days tend to arrive in the middle of the worst stretches. Someone who bought bitcoin at the start of 2015 and never touched it multiplied their money 254×. Had they missed just the 10 best days of those 11 years, they'd have multiplied it 46×.
In “Hold if you can” you can test it with two years of real prices and a single button.
Holding isn't a risk-free strategy: if the asset doesn't recover, whoever holds loses everything it fell. What history shows is that getting out and back in on time is much harder than it looks.
Extreme days come in clusters: the best and the worst bunch together in the same periods of panic. Getting out to dodge the worst usually means missing the best too.
The calculation uses daily closes since January 1, 2015, and removes only the 10 days with the biggest rises.
- Never touching it
- Missing the 10 best days
One dollar since January 1, 2015. Logarithmic scale.
Where you see it in Compass
- Hold if you can“Hold if you can” tests whether you can hold on, with two years of real prices.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What does HODL mean?
It's a typo of hold that became famous in 2013 on a bitcoin forum. Today it means keeping an investment despite the drops.
What happens if I miss the best days?
The result changes enormously. With bitcoin since 2015, missing the 10 best days takes the result from 254× down to 46×.
Calculated and reviewed by Compass. Sources, checks and method
Figures with data as of October 26, 2026. Educational content. Not financial advice. Past results don't guarantee future results.