Year To Date Meaning

How Is Year to Date Used?

Year to Date (YTD) is a time frame. It represents the period between the first day of the calendar or fiscal year up to the current date. YTD data is used to analyze asset performance and evaluate market trends. 

To calculate Year to Date performance of an asset, subtract its value on January 1st (or the start of the fiscal year) from its value at the current date. To get the percentage growth, divide the result by the value on the first day of the year and multiply it by 100. 

For example, Bitcoin began the 2021 calendar year at $29,032 and rose to $67,617 by November 9. The data shows that Bitcoin had a YTD performance of 132% in that period. 

Year to Date data is mostly used to get insights into an asset’s performance. The data is limited in coverage and does not give a broad view on an asset’s long term potential. An unprofitable year may not necessarily mean that an asset has no potential. As an example, Bitcoin started the 2018 calendar year at $15,300 and dipped to $3,500 at the end of the year. Going by this YTD data, one may assume the asset to be unprofitable, but three years later the asset reached an all time high of $68,789 in November 2021. 

For this reason, analysts often use several YTD results to generate more detailed data consisting of comparisons between those years. This is known as Year to Year (YTY) and usually encompasses data from 3-4 years. YTY gives better insights into the performance and prospects of a crypto asset.