2025 tested investors’ nerves across stocks, crypto, and commodities. The S&P 500 came close to a bear market in the first half, then clawed back to fresh records. By year-end, US equities and metals were firmly higher, while bitcoin ended lower.
The scorecard captured the split: the S&P 500 gained 17%, the Nasdaq 100 rose 21%, and the Dow added 14%. Nvidia jumped 40% and gold surged 66%. Bitcoin, however, finished down 6%, after a dramatic rise and fall that shaped risk sentiment for months.
Early in the year, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump unveiled their own crypto tokens just before the inauguration, a move that drew conflict-of-interest questions and stirred meme-coin speculation. The performance was ugly: $Trump slid more than 90% from its peak, and $Melania fell about 98%.
Tech investors also got rattled when China’s DeepSeek appeared to challenge top US AI models, triggering a one-day wipeout of roughly $1 trillion in US tech value and raising fresh doubts about Big Tech’s AI spending.
Crypto then reversed hard after the post-election enthusiasm tied to the self-styled “crypto president.” Bitcoin dropped 28% from around $106,000 in late January to about $75,000 in early April, while Ethereum sank roughly 60% from its prior peak into mid-April.
Stocks took another hit after Trump rolled out his “Liberation Day” tariffs, including a 10% universal tariff and reciprocal measures on dozens of countries. The S&P 500 fell 12% from April 2 through the next Tuesday and briefly sat 19% below its mid-February high.
Tesla plunged early, then rebounded after Elon Musk signaled he would step back from government work. Later, Musk and Trump clashed online; Musk said his posts “went too far,” and Trump called it “very nice,” helping steady the stock. Meanwhile, Nvidia pushed to new valuation milestones, and metals such as gold, silver, and copper hit record highs.
