Crypto · Interoperability network
Polkadot all-time high and real returns DOT
Polkadot. A network designed to connect separate blockchains so they can share data and security.
Key numbers
- 1-month change
- +16.0%
- Volatility (30-day, annualised)
- 94.6%
- Market value
- $2.0bn
- 24h trading volume
- $230.8m
Polkadot all-time highs and real returns
In dollars and pounds, before and after inflation, since Aug 2020.
−84.4%Polkadot after US inflation since Aug 2020−26.1% a year
Down 80.0% in dollars since Aug 2020. After US inflation, down 84.4%. Against money printing, down 84.2%.
In pounds, down 79.7%, or down 84.7% after UK inflation.
- $ nominal
- −80.0%−22.9% a year
- £ nominal
- −79.7%−22.8% a year
- Real $ (US CPI)
- −84.4%−26.1% a year
- Real £ (UK CPI)
- −84.7%−26.2% a year
- vs US M2
- −84.2%−25.9% a year
- Measured from
- Aug 2020to Oct 2026, 6 years 2 months
- Polkadot, Real $ (US CPI)$1.257
- $ nominal$1.257
- Oct 2026, latest
Loading the chart. Every figure is also in the table below.
| Period | $ nominal | £ nominal | Real $ (US CPI) | Real £ (UK CPI) | vs US M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past year from Oct 2025 | −56.4% | −56.7% | –a (see note a) | −57.8% | −58.4% |
| 5 years from Oct 2021 | −97.1% −50.6% a year | −97.0% −50.3% a year | −97.6% −52.5% a year | −97.6% −52.6% a year | −97.3% −51.6% a year |
| Since Aug 2020 first month in our data | −80.0% −22.9% a year | −79.7% −22.8% a year | −84.4% −26.1% a year | −84.7% −26.2% a year | −84.2% −25.9% a year |
- a US CPI was not published for Oct 2025.
On month-end closes, Polkadot's highest price was $42.77 in Oct 2021, which is $51.80 in Oct 2026 dollars after US inflation. The latest close of $1.257 is 97.6% below the real high. The intraday record, $54.98 on 4 November 2021, is higher than any month-end close.
Cycle peaks, falls and recoveries
Month-end highs followed by a fall of 50% or more, and the high that stands today, in Oct 2026 money.
| Peak | $ then | Today's $ (US CPI) | £ then | Today's £ (UK CPI) | vs M2 today | Fall after | Back above, $ | Back above, real $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2021 Cycle peak | $37.08 | $46.89 | £26.88 | £35.28 | $43.55 | −55.8% low Jun 2021 | 7 months | 7 months |
| Oct 2021 All-time high | $42.77 | $51.80 | £31.25 | £39.50 | $47.17 | −98.2% low Jul 2026 | Not yet | Not yet |
Return since our first month and since each cycle low
From the month-end close in the first column to Oct 2026.
| From | $ then | $ nominal | Real $ (US CPI) | Real £ (UK CPI) | vs US M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2020 First month in our data | $6.272 | −80.0% −22.9% a year | −84.4% −26.1% a year | −84.7% −26.2% a year | −84.2% −25.9% a year |
| Jun 2021 Cycle low | $16.40 | −92.3% −38.2% a year | −93.8% −40.6% a year | −93.8% −40.6% a year | −93.3% −39.7% a year |
| Jul 2026 Lowest since the high | $0.7590 | +65.6% | +65.1% | +67.7% | +64.7% |
Polkadot cycle highs and lows on record (intraday)
2 hand-checked dates, some before our monthly data starts
| Date | Event | $ then | Today's $ (US CPI) | £ then | Today's £ (UK CPI) | vs M2 today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | ATH | $55.00 | $66.29 | £41.50 | £52.05 | $60.16 |
| Nov 2022 | Bottom | $4.200 | $4.726 | £3.511 | £3.979 | $4.579 |
Every month DOT closed at a new high
6 month-end closes above every earlier one
| Month | Close, $ | Today's $ (US CPI) |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2021 | $42.77 | $51.80 |
| Mar 2021 | $37.08 | $46.89 |
| Feb 2021 | $33.80 | $43.05 |
| Jan 2021 | $16.11 | $20.63 |
| Dec 2020 | $9.262 | $11.91 |
| Aug 2020 | $6.272 | $8.083 |
How these figures are worked out
Sources, inflation measures and what is left out
- Month-end closes from Binance, Aug 2020 to Oct 2026. Oct 2026 is still in progress, so its figure is the latest close rather than a month-end. Our history for Polkadot starts in Aug 2020, so longer windows are left out.
- Real figures divide by US CPI (BLS, via FRED) or UK CPI (ONS, joined to the ONS long-run RPI before Jan 1988) and are stated in Oct 2026 money. The M2 lens divides by the US M2 money supply (Federal Reserve, via FRED). Pounds convert at each month's GBP/USD rate.
- US CPI is published with a lag: Oct 2026 uses the Aug 2026 figure.
- UK CPI is published with a lag: Oct 2026 uses the Aug 2026 figure.
- US M2 is published with a lag: Oct 2026 uses the Aug 2026 figure.
- A return of 12 months or more also shows its yearly rate. Gaps in a source are left as gaps and never filled in.
Polkadot price history, past year
Daily closes from Kraken. Last refreshed .
Where Polkadot stands today
52-week range
- Below the high
- 65.6%
- Above the low
- 54.5%
Polkadot is in the bottom quarter of its 52-week range, 65.6% below the $3.377 high it reached on 13 Oct 2025, and only 32% of the past year's closes were lower than where it trades now.
Moving averages
- 50-day$1.077 +7.7%
- 200-day$1.049 +10.6%
Price compared with each average. Bars to the right mean the price is above it.
Polkadot is 7.7% above its 50-day average and 10.6% above its 200-day average, so on both the shorter and the longer view the trend we measure is still pointing up. The 50-day line last crossed above the 200-day on 9 Oct 2026, the pattern traders call a golden cross.
Trend score
- Trend100
- Momentum65
- RSI score76
- Drawdown0
- Uptrend
- 65 or more
- Sideways
- 36 to 64
- Downtrend
- 35 or less
Rules-based, from 400 daily prices. It describes the trend so far and does not predict the next move. How it works.
Why it sits in this zone
The model places Polkadot in the Mild discount zone on a Bargain Score of 64, a partial set of buy-side conditions led by Price 98% below ATH and greed high. Polkadot is 97.9% below its November 2021 high of $54.98. A fall that deep means the price would have to rise about 47-fold just to return to that level, which is why the model applies its structural-collapse checks here.
What drives the score
Once the weights are applied, price distress (0.99 out of 1) adds the most to its score and project resilience (0.36) the least. The model counts Polkadot as a multi-cycle survivor, which gives it the highest starting point when estimating the chance of a new all-time high; that chance is currently rated High. As a base-layer or scaling network, it tends to move with the rotation of money between large networks in a bull market, usually after Bitcoin.
Where the cycle targets come from
A smaller repeat of Polkadot's past range would not get it back to its old high, so the model anchors the cycle targets to that high instead, at $57.73, $63.23 and $71.47, and even the low scenario would need a 4,885% move from today's price.
Polkadot performance and biggest moves
Returns over time
| Period | DOT | BTC | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 week | -3.4% | -2.7% | −0.7 pts |
| 1 month | +16.0% | +8.3% | +7.7 pts |
| 3 months | +37.0% | +28.6% | +8.4 pts |
| Year to date | -35.1% | -4.9% | −30.2 pts |
| 1 year | -65.6% | -27.8% | −37.9 pts |
Polkadot is down 65.6% over the past year, against −27.8% for Bitcoin, so it has trailed that comparison by 37.9 percentage points.
Best and worst days in the past year
- Days that closed higher
- 42%
- Moves of 5% or more
- 57
The biggest one-day rise since 13 Oct 2025 came on 25 Feb 2026 (+34.2%) and the sharpest fall on 5 Feb 2026 (−14.7%). Of the 366 days in that period, 42% closed higher than the day before and 57 moved by 5% or more in one direction or the other.
Is Polkadot overbought, and how volatile is it?
RSI (14-day)
Neutral- Sessions at 70+ (past year)
- 3
- Sessions at 30 or lower
- 34
Polkadot's RSI of 50.2 is near the middle of the scale, which tells us the up and down days of the last three weeks have more or less cancelled each other out. For context, it last went above 70 on 8 Sept 2026 and last fell below 30 on 1 Jul 2026.
Volatility against other cryptocurrencies
3rd most volatile of 14- Typical daily move
- 5.0%
- Calmest in group
- TRX 11.7%
Polkadot's 30-day volatility is 94.6%, which works out at a move of roughly 5.0% on an ordinary day. That makes it the 3rd most volatile of the 14 cryptocurrencies we track, above the group median of 73.4%. One very large day, such as an earnings release or a sudden sell-off, can lift a 30-day figure for weeks, so we would read the ranking as this month's picture.
Polkadot compared with similar assets
| Asset | Price | Today | 1 month | 1 year | RSI | Trend score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOTPolkadot | $1.160 | -2.05% | +16.0% | -65.6% | 50 | 69 Uptrend |
| ADACardano | $0.2355 | +0.42% | +15.7% | -67.7% | 48 | 68 Uptrend |
| ETHEthereum | $2,498.86 | +1.62% | +0.9% | -41.1% | 43 | 54 Sideways |
| SOLSolana | $106.59 | +0.53% | +7.4% | -48.9% | 41 | 54 Sideways |
Over the past year Ethereum has held up best in this group (−41.1%) and Cardano has been the weakest (−67.7%). Polkadot comes 3rd of 4, 24.5 percentage points behind Ethereum.
About Polkadot
Polkadot launched in 2020, founded by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood. Separate blockchains connect to its central relay chain and share its security.
- Ticker
- DOT
- Type
- Crypto
- Category
- Interoperability network
- Priced in
- USD
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Headlines from outside publishers, linked to their sites. We don't write or endorse them.
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Polkadot: questions people ask
Answers are built from the same live figures shown above, so they change as the price does. Last checked 14 Oct 2026.
What was Polkadot's all-time high in today's money?
Polkadot's highest recorded price was $54.98 on 4 November 2021, from CoinGecko's record of intraday trades. Restated with US CPI to Oct 2026, that is $66.26 in today's dollars. In pounds it was £41.49 at the time, or £52.03 after UK inflation.
On month-end closes, which is what our tables use, the peak was $42.77 in Oct 2021, worth $51.80 today. The latest price is 97.6% below the real high.
Has Polkadot beaten inflation since Aug 2020?
Our monthly history for Polkadot starts in August 2020. Since then it is down 80.0% in dollars and down 84.4% after US inflation, so it has not kept up with inflation over that stretch. Measured in pounds after UK CPI the figure is down 84.7%. Against the US M2 money supply it is down 84.2%.
How long did Polkadot take to recover from past crashes?
After the Mar 2021 peak of $37.08 it fell 55.8% by Jun 2021, and closed above the old high again after 7 months. In real terms it took 7 months. After the Oct 2021 peak of $42.77 it fell 98.2% by Jul 2026, and has not closed above that high since. In real terms it has not recovered.
These use month-end closes, so intraday highs and lows were more extreme.
What is the price of Polkadot today?
Polkadot was trading at $1.160 when we last checked, at 00:14 BST on 14 Oct 2026, which is down 2.1% on 24 hours earlier. Crypto never closes, so we fetch a fresh price from CoinGecko every five minutes, and the figure here can be a few minutes old by the time you read it. At that price all the Polkadot in circulation is worth about $2.0bn, and $230.8m changed hands over the past day. Over the last month the price has moved +16.0% and over the last year −65.6%.
Is Polkadot overbought?
No, or at least not on the 14-day RSI, which reads 50.2 at the moment. We'd only start calling Polkadot overbought above 70 and it hasn't been there since 8 Sept 2026, while the last time it went the other way and dropped below 30 was 1 Jul 2026. RSI looks back over 14 sessions and asks how much of the movement was up and how much was down, so a reading in the 50s or 60s mostly tells us the past few weeks have been fairly even. Polkadot spent 3 sessions at 70 or above in the past year, which is one reason we don't treat a high reading as a cue to sell: in a strong run it can stay there for weeks.
What were Polkadot's best and worst days in the past year?
Going back to 13 Oct 2025, Polkadot's best day was 25 Feb 2026, when it rose 34.2%, and its worst was 5 Feb 2026, a fall of 14.7%. We measure each day from one daily close to the next in US dollars, so a spike that reversed within the same day won't show up here. Across those 366 days it moved 5% or more on 57 of them and finished higher 42% of the time, which gives you a feel for how bumpy holding it has been.
How has Polkadot done compared with Bitcoin?
Over the past 12 months Polkadot is down 65.6%, and since the start of the year it is down 35.1%. We put it next to Bitcoin because that is the obvious alternative for most people weighing up Polkadot, and it moved −27.8% over the same 12 months, a gap of 37.9 points in Bitcoin's favour.
How far is Polkadot below its 52-week high?
About 65.6%, so it would need to rise 191.1% to get back there. The highest close in the past year was $3.377 on 13 Oct 2025 and the lowest was $0.7507 on 18 Aug 2026, which puts today's price 16% of the way up that range. We work this out from daily closing prices rather than the intraday highs and lows an exchange reports, so our high can be a little lower than the one you'll see quoted elsewhere.
How far is Polkadot below its all-time high?
Polkadot is 97.9% below its all-time high of $54.98, which it set on 4 November 2021, and its all-time low is $0.727, from August 2026. Getting back to the high from today's price of $1.16 would take a rise of about 4,648%. These figures come from CoinGecko and refresh every five minutes.
What zone is Polkadot in today?
Polkadot is in the Mild discount zone with a Bargain Score of 64. Two or more of the looser buy-side conditions are met (Price 98% below ATH and greed high), which puts it on the discount side of the scale without the full set of signals behind it. Rather than a recommendation, the label is a reading of where Polkadot's price and the wider market sit against the model's rules at this moment, and because the Fear & Greed value and the daily RSI both update at midnight UTC, just after midnight is when it is most likely to change. The 3-dot meter beside it shows where that zone sits on the five-step scale, from one dot for Expensive to five for Deep discount.
How long have Polkadot's past recoveries taken?
Polkadot has had one earlier fall of 50% or more in our price history: after its $11.56 peak in March 2024 it fell 93% and has not closed above that level since. Those are the only data points we have for this coin, which is too few to say anything reliable about the next recovery, since market conditions, supply and competition are different each cycle and some coins never regain a previous high.
What are the cycle targets for Polkadot?
The model starts from Polkadot's full range, its all-time high of $54.98 divided by its all-time low of $0.727, which is roughly 75.6-fold. It shrinks that multiple with a decay factor, on the assumption that each cycle is smaller than the last, and applies it from the low. For Polkadot that reduced repeat would not reach the old high, so the targets are anchored just above it instead, at $57.73, $63.23 and $71.47, which puts the low scenario 4,885% above today's price. They describe what a reduced repeat of the past would look like and say nothing about whether that will happen. Cryptoassets are high risk, and you should be prepared to lose all the money you put into them.
Why does Polkadot have a Bargain Score of 64 but sit in the Mild discount zone?
Because the score and the zone measure different things. The score blends price distress, sentiment, positioning, resilience and supply into one number, while the zone checks whether specific conditions line up, such as Fear & Greed crossing a threshold or the RSI reaching oversold or overbought levels. With Fear & Greed at 57 (Greed) and Polkadot's RSI at 47, not enough of the buy-side conditions are met to move Polkadot further up the scale.
Important information
Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.
Cryptoassets are largely unregulated in the UK, so you are unlikely to have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong. Educational information only, not financial advice. Read our disclaimer.
Polkadot: what the numbers say
Claude Haiku ·Polkadot was trading at $1.180 in the past 24 hours, after a fall of 2.27% over that period. The token sits 65.1% below its 52-week closing high of $3.377, set on 13 October 2025, and 57.2% above its 52-week closing low of $0.7507, recorded on 18 August 2026. It remains above both its 50-day average of 1.0774 and its 200-day average of 1.0491, though its price is down 63.69% over the past year.
Read the full summary Show less
Polkadot's trend score is 70, which places it in the Uptrend category, with the price up 18.04% over 30 days. Momentum scores 67, and the 14-day RSI reads 51.9, a level near the middle of its range. The 30-day annualised volatility of 94.5% is high, so the price has been swinging sharply. Among peers over the same past 24 hours, Cardano fell 1.72%, Ethereum slipped 0.14% and Solana rose 0.45%.
Written by AI from this site's live data and checked figure by figure before publishing. Educational only, not financial advice.