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S&P 500 return calculator

If you invested
$1,000
in the DAX
once inDollar-cost averaging invests the same amount every period, so the chart compares value against what you put in.
January 2016
Priced at a real closing price — the month's last trading day, or that exact day's close when you pick one.
and held until
today
Monthly data: valued at the closing price on the last trading day of that month.

A $1,000 investment in the DAX in January 2016 would be worth $2,489 as of October 2026 with dividends reinvested — 8.9% a year compounded (CAGR). Use the controls above to try any amount or starting month back to October 2014.

Over the same period, the same $1,000 in the Nasdaq-100 proxy QQQ would be worth $7,777.

At a flat 5% a year compounded — what a compound interest calculator or a high-yield savings account assumes — the same $1,000 would be $1,683; the index beat it by $806.

Worth today
$2,489
Multiple
2.5×
Annualized
8.9%/yr
Max drawdown
-38.5%
5/28/2021 – 9/30/2022
Same $ in SPY
$4,724

Growth of $1,000 in the DAX since January 2016— monthly

the DAX (the DAX). Total return approximated via dividend- and split-adjusted closes (no taxes or fees). Not investment advice.

What $1,000 in the DAX would be worth today, by starting month— each bar = one starting month, held to today

$1,000
20162017201820192020202120222023202420252026

$1,000 invested in the DAX, by year— dividends reinvested, held to today

Invested inWorth todayMultipleAnnualized
2016$2,4892.5×8.9%
2017$2,1512.2×8.2%
2018$1,6521.7×6.0%
2019$2,1182.1×10.3%
2020$1,9111.9×10.2%
2021$1,6811.7×9.6%
2022$1,5731.6×10.2%
2023$1,6761.7×15.1%
2024$1,5391.5×17.5%
2025$1,2551.3×14.6%

Methodology

The calculator grows the investment at DAX's split- and dividend-adjusted closes, the fund that tracks the DAX — its record is the index's investable history, which is why the series begins October 2014 and runs through October 2026. A “buy” is priced at a real closing price: the last trading day of the chosen month, or that exact day's close when a specific date is picked. Price-only values use the unadjusted closes; inflation-adjusted values divide total return by CPI. Monthly contributions are fixed nominal dollar amounts; taxes, fund fees and transaction costs are excluded. See the annual DAX returns, or the DAX fund page. Past performance does not predict future results; not investment advice.

ChartRow is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, S&P Global, Nasdaq, Inc., Robert Shiller, RSBB-I, LLC, or Yale University. "S&P 500®" and "Dow Jones®" are registered trademarks of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC; "Nasdaq-100®" is a registered trademark of Nasdaq, Inc.; "CAPE®" is a registered trademark of RSBB-I, LLC. They are used here only to identify the indexes and series discussed. All index-related figures on this page are independently derived from public sources — SEC filings, the public Shiller S&P 500 monthly series, and our own computations — not from any index provider's data feed.

FAQ#

What would $1,000 invested in the DAX be worth today?
$1,000 invested in the DAX in January 2016 would be worth about $2,489 as of October 2026, with dividends reinvested — an annualized return of 8.9%.
Does the DAX return calculator include dividends?
Yes. Dividends reinvested is the default total-return basis. You can turn it off to see price appreciation alone. Taxes, fund fees and trading costs are excluded.
Can the calculator adjust DAX returns for inflation?
Yes. The After inflation option deflates the dividends-reinvested total-return series by CPI, expressing the ending value in the starting investment's purchasing-power dollars.
How far back does the DAX calculator go?
The monthly series begins October 2014, the first full month of DAX's record — the fund that tracks the DAX — and runs to October 2026.
How does this compare with a compound interest calculator?
A compound interest calculator grows a deposit at one fixed rate. This calculator grows it at what the DAX actually returned month by month, dividends included, and states the flat-rate equivalent beside the result: the same $1,000 at 5% a year compounded is shown for the same dates so the two can be read against each other. The DAX's own figure since 2014 is on the result card, and it arrives unevenly — the January 2016 start above shows the path, not just the endpoint.

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