BTC hodlers outperformed crypto funds by 69% in H1 2023: 21e6 Capital AG

The classic buy and hold, or HODL approach to Bitcoin (BTC) outperformed the majority of crypto funds by 68.8% in the first half (H1) of 2023.

According to data from Switzerland-based investment adviser 21e6 Capital AG, on average, crypto funds generated returns of 15.2% in the first half of 2023 (Jan.1 to June 30) , compared to the roughly 84% price gain BTC saw in the same period.

Crypto funds on average generated 15.2% return in the first half of 2023 lol pic.twitter.com/vb8pwYfiX9

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) August 5, 2023

Emphasizing the significance of such via an Aug. 2 half-year report, 21e6 Capital AG’s head of marketing Maximilian Bruckner outlined that crypto funds have been “frequently able to significantly outperform Bitcoin in previous bull runs.”

Burckner attributed much of the underwhelming performance of crypto funds in 2023 to the challenging market conditions and significant amount of cash they had on hand in late 2022.

Following the implosion of FTX and many other crypto projects last year, the report suggested that many crypto funds opted to take risk off the table and develop cash buffers, therefore missing out on a significant BTC price rally in H1 2023.

“Funds with large cash positions will underperform Bitcoin in a bull market, unless the funds’ assets perform significantly better than Bitcoin.”

“Due to the general sentiment left behind by the end of 2022, many funds had larger-than-normal cash positions. Furthermore, most major altcoins also underperformed Bitcoin – a tough environment for funds,” the report adds.

*Directional Fund strategy comparison H1 2023. Source: 21e6 Capital AG.*

At the time of writing, BTC is priced at roughly $29,000 as it continues to struggle to hold above the $30,000 region, which has only been briefly surpassed on a couple of occasions this year.

Related: Price analysis 8/4: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, DOGE, ADA, SOL, MATIC, LTC, DOT

Despite this, current prices mark a 75% price gain for the asset since Jan. 1, as per CoinGecko data.

“All crypto fund strategies achieved positive results this year. But relative to Bitcoin, they underperformed, especially those with significant exposure to altcoins, to futures, or those strongly dependent on momentum signals.”

“Going forward, we are keeping a close eye on which exchanges will establish themselves as leading futures providers. Furthermore, the level of the funding rates in crypto futures markets and the ability of quantitative funds to capture trends will be areas of focus when we observe the markets,” the report adds.

Ultimately the report highlighted that investor sentiment has slightly improved over H1 2023, suggesting that some funds may soon start piling in more cash into the crypto sector.

However, it did note that current data relating to inflows and outflows indicate that a “full recovery of sentiment” has not yet taken place.