Investing $100 a month in oil (WTI) since 2004: worth today
Every lump sum scenario for oil (WTI), start year by start year, using real prices and each month's exchange rate.
Prices updated on September 21, 2026
If I had invested $100 every month in oil (WTI) since January 2004, today I would have $39,401
Over the same period
Worst moment: −85.2% between May 2008 and April 2020. To get this result, you had to hold on without selling.
What happened
$100 invested every month in oil (WTI) since January 2004, $27,300 in total, would be worth $39,401 in September 2026, an annual return of +3.1%.
It was not a straight line: between May 2008 and April 2020, oil (WTI) lost −85.2% of its value. The result above assumes you held everything through that fall.
Over the same period, the same amount in the MSCI World would have returned $81,137: without betting on a single asset, you would have done better.
Left in US Treasury bills, the money would have grown to $34,284.
Best calendar year: 2009 (+77.9%). Worst year: 2008 (−53.5%).
Oil (WTI), other start years
Compare with
Before you have regrets
What this calculation does not tell you.
Hindsight bias
Picking Nvidia or Bitcoin today means picking known winners. Back then, nothing set them apart from hundreds of assets that went nowhere or vanished.
Holding on was the real test
The result assumes you never sold, including through the drawdowns shown above. Very few investors actually do.
The broad market, no bet required
The MSCI World never makes headlines, but it does not require guessing the winner. It is the fairest yardstick for any pick.
Past performance, computed from monthly closing prices (intra-month lows are smoothed out). Converted at each month’s exchange rate; no fees, no taxes. The MSCI World benchmark is the price index, excluding dividends. Not investment advice. NokxiHub.