Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$4,832
+$3,832 profit4.83x15.8% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $4,503
Includes the fund’s 0.75% yearly fee, roughly $246.58 over this time.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$4,257
US federal long-term rates: 15% for most people, 0% on lower incomes, 20% + 3.8% on high incomes. No state tax included; none inside a Roth IRA.
Growth Over Time
Performance Metrics
Total Invested
$1,000.00
Current Value
$4,832.34
Total Profit
$3,832.34
Multiplier
4.83x
CAGR
15.8%
Max Drawdown
-77.1%
Inflation-Adjusted
$3,557.55
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2016 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) | $4,832.34 | 4.83x |
| S&P 500 | $4,503.50 | 4.50x |
| Gold | $3,955.93 | 3.96x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,237.13 | 1.24x |
Dividends
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $4,458; reinvested dividends added the other $374.02, 9.8% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) charges a yearly fee of 0.75%. It’s already taken out of the fund’s price, so the results above include it; at today’s rate it came to roughly $246.58 on this investment. Source
Back in 2016
- In 2016, a gallon of gas averaged $2.14, a movie ticket averaged $8.65 and the new iPhone 7 started at $649. eia.govapple.comdeadline.com
- During 2016 itself, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) rose 2.2%, #70 of the 85 investments we track. The best was Ethereum (+778%); the worst was Palo Alto Networks (−26%). Full 2016 results →
$1,000 in ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), year by year
Of the 85 investments we track that were available at the start of 2016, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) ranks #39 by growth to today — just behind Qualcomm and ahead of Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). See the full 2016 ranking →
ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) started 2016 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 1.4% in 2015. It has been worth more than the $1,000 put in at every January since, and still is today. Its best January was 2021, at $6,644. Today it's 27% below that, so selling then would have beaten holding. It rose in 8 of the 10 full years since. It moved ahead of the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2026 and has stayed ahead since. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Jan 2021 ($7,303) to Dec 2022 ($1,674), a drop of 77%. At its lowest month-end, in Feb 2016, it was worth $852.29.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2016 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2017 | $1,022 | +2.2% | $1,120 |
| Start of 2018 | $1,953 | +91% | $1,364 |
| Start of 2019 | $1,955 | +0.1% | $1,304 |
| Start of 2020 | $2,648 | +35% | $1,715 |
| Start of 2021 | $6,644 | +151% | $2,030 |
| Start of 2022 | $5,211 | −22% | $2,613 |
| Start of 2023 | $1,637 | −69% | $2,140 |
| Start of 2024 | $2,736 | +67% | $2,702 |
| Start of 2025 | $3,082 | +13% | $3,379 |
| Start of 2026 | $4,242 | +38% | $3,983 |
| Today | $4,832 | +14% | $4,503 |
Values at the start of each year (first trading day for stocks). The S&P 500 column includes reinvested dividends, like the stock values.
Historical Context
At the start of 2016, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) was priced at $18.46 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 54.17 shares. ARKK is Cathie Wood's actively managed fund of disruptive-innovation stocks, launched in October 2014.
Measured from one January to the next, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK)'s best year since then was 2020 (+151%) and its worst was 2022 (−69%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2021 and the start of 2023, the position fell 75% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) at the start of 2016 would be worth approximately $4,832.34 today — a 4.83x return ($3,832.34 profit) over 10.7 years.
Methodology & Sources
Price data: Historical prices are the closing price on the first trading day of each year, adjusted for splits and dividends (so returns assume dividends were reinvested), from Yahoo Finance and MacroTrends. Current prices come from Yahoo Finance and refresh hourly; if that source is unavailable, the last saved price is used.
Calculation: Assumes a single purchase at the start of 2016 (or the first trading day, for companies that listed that year), held until today. No transaction fees, taxes, or slippage are included.
Benchmarks: The S&P 500 comparison uses the S&P 500 Total Return index (dividends reinvested, like an index fund) at the start of2016 and today. Gold uses the price per troy ounce. Savings account assumes a 2% APY compounded annually.
Inflation adjustment: Uses U.S. CPI-U annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2026 CPI value is estimated.
Educational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.
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$1,000 in ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), by year
$1,000 in ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK):1 year ago5 years ago10 years ago