A new November 2025 study on high-return assets shows just how dramatically a well-timed investment can change someone’s financial reality. According to a report, NVIDIA delivered the strongest wealth-building performance of any major stock or cryptocurrency over the past two decades.
The data reveals that a modest $2,200 stake in Nvidia in 2006 would now be worth $1 million, beating both Bitcoin and Tesla to the top spot.
The research compares how much early investors have to commit to different assets, from tech stocks to cryptocurrencies, to a seven-figure portfolio today. It tracks each asset from its first available trading date and applies its 2025 price to show the minimum initial investment required to reach the $1 million threshold.
The findings underline a simple truth: not all early bets are created equal. Some assets delivered extraordinary growth on starting amounts, while other long-standing market favourites required far deeper pockets to reach the same milestone.
NVIDIA’s historic run sets a new benchmark
NVIDIA’s rise from a $0.44 stock in March 2006 to $198 in 2025 is one of the most dramatic long-term rallies in modern market history. An investor who put in around $2,215 at the time would have secured roughly 5,033 shares. That position alone would now cross the million-dollar line.
The company benefited from several waves of explosive growth, from gaming GPUs and AI acceleration to data centre dominance, turning its stock into a multiplier engine unmatched by any asset in the analysis.
Tesla followed closely behind, but with a slightly higher entry requirement. Someone investing $3,846 during its 2010 IPO, when the stock traded at $1.71, would have amassed around 2,250 shares. At $444 in 2025, that early bet grew roughly 260 times, enough to bring the total value near seven figures.
Tesla’s trajectory, driven by its push into electric vehicles and energy storage, shows how long-term conviction in emerging industries can pay off.
Cryptocurrencies, however, displayed some of the fastest compression between investment size and million-dollar outcomes. Bitcoin ranked third on the list. A $4,483 investment in September 2014 would have bought 10 coins for $457 per bitcoin. By 2025, with Bitcoin trading above $100,000, that holding would be worth just over $1 million.
Despite entering the market later than companies like NVIDIA or Tesla, Bitcoin’s extreme volatility and adoption cycles allowed it to leapfrog many traditional assets.
Netflix is next.
The streaming pioneer needed just $6,423 at its 2002 IPO to hit the million-dollar mark by 2025. Starting at $7.02 per share, the company’s rise to $1,092 reflects how early believers in the streaming revolution earned enormous returns as Netflix reshaped global entertainment habits.
Dogecoin’s appearance in the top five highlights how unpredictable and sometimes absurd the investing world can be.
Launched as a memecoin in 2017 at $0.0013, it surged to $0.16 by 2025. That jump transformed a $7,959 stake into $1 million. Dogecoin delivered a 126-fold return in just eight years, demonstrating that even assets born from internet humour can generate substantial wealth under the right conditions.
Beyond the top five, the remaining assets in the top 10 also delivered outsized gains for early believers.
Amazon would have needed an initial investment of around $26,000 in 2010 to reach $1 million today, while Apple required about $27,000 from its 2009 levels to hit the same mark.
Newer cryptocurrencies showed powerful momentum, with Solana at roughly $31,000 from its 2020 launch and Binance’s BNB at about $41,000 from its early 2017 price.
Meta rounded out the list, requiring about $50,000 from its 2012 IPO to cross the million-dollar threshold by 2025. Together, these assets illustrate how a mix of early-stage tech stocks and fast-rising digital tokens defined the decade’s most lucrative investment opportunities.
A senior market analyst at Taurex commented on the study, saying, “Investing has never been easier than it is right now. You can buy stocks, cryptocurrencies, and even gold from your phone in under a minute.
Cryptocurrency, in particular, has taken off with younger investors. And for many who got in early, it proved to be the right move. Some cryptocurrencies have significantly outperformed traditional investments such as gold. Even coins that started as internet jokes ended up making real money for people who took a shot on them.”
The broader takeaway from the study is that transformative technologies, AI, EVs, streaming, and digital currencies produced the best outcomes for minimal initial outlay. For many investors, hitting $1 million was less about the amount invested and more about timing, conviction, and an ability to identify emerging trends before they went mainstream.
