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Steel Dynamics STLD

equity

Price History

$2.27$89.24$176.21$263.18
1996-11 · DCA start$4.56

Time underwater

How far below its previous all-time high the price sat, each month. 0% means a new high.

-78.9%-52.6%-26.3%0.0%
1996-112026-08 · 0.0%

Worst drawdown: 79%, peaking Jun 2008 and bottoming Nov 2008 114 months below the prior high before recovering.

DCA Backtest

Invested
$35,800
Value today
$973,067
Return
+2618.1%
Months invested
358

Scenarios

Inflation — the same contributions merely keeping pace with CPI would be $54,397 today, so the real (inflation-adjusted) return is +1688.8%.

Lump sum instead — $35,800 all at once in Nov 1996: $2,065,062 (+5668.3%) — lump sum came out ahead.

Worst timing — same monthly amount started at the all-time high (May 2026): $420.6 on $400 invested (+5.2%).

⚠ Price returns only — dividends are not included. This understates the true return of dividend-paying shares, and any comparison against crypto (which pays no dividends) is biased against equities by roughly the dividend yield, compounded.

If this saved you a spreadsheet — buy me a coffee.

Every start month at once

Each cell is the return-to-date of £/$/€100-a-month DCA started that month. Click a cell to load it in the backtest above. The ringed cell is the all-time-high start — the worst timing scenario.

JFMAMJJASOND
1996
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2026
Legend:−50%−20%0%+50%+200%+1000%worst timing (ATH)Selected 1996-11: +2618.1%

About Steel Dynamics

Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) is an American steel producer based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. With a production capacity of 13 million tons of steel, the company is the third largest producer of carbon steel products in the United States. It is among the most profitable American steel companies in terms of profit margins and operating margin per ton. Based on its 2021 revenue, the company ranked 196th on the 2022 edition of the Fortune 500. (Wikipedia)

It's a listed company categorised under materials and steel, with a market cap of about $37.7B.

It rates Medium-Low Risk at 2.0/5, meaning the rated factors are mostly sound, with one or two areas worth watching.

What pushes the score up: market / volatility (3.7/5).

Scoring well: earnings quality at 1.0/5.

Not yet researched: concentration, governance. These are excluded from the score rather than guessed, so the real risk may be higher than what’s shown.

Ratings summarise sourced facts against fixed rules — not investment advice, and no substitute for your own diligence.

Risk Profile

Medium-Low Risk(2.0/5)80% rated

How these ratings work

Market / Volatility3.7/5 · weight 20%
  • Annualised volatility (3yr)3/531.1
  • Max drawdown from ATH4/578.9
  • Beta vs S&P 5004/51.4
Liquidity1.0/5 · weight 15%
  • Avg daily $ volume1/5295.1m
  • Float % of shares outstandingnot yet researched
Leverage / Financial2.0/5 · weight 20%
  • Debt / equity2/50.45
  • Interest coverage (EBIT / interest)not yet researched
Earnings Quality1.0/5 · weight 15%
  • 3yr EPS volatility1/59.9
Concentrationunrated · weight 10%
  • Largest customer, % of revenuenot yet researched
  • Geographic revenue concentrationnot yet researched
Governanceunrated · weight 10%
  • Board independence %not yet researched
  • Share structurenot yet researched
  • Litigation / audit historynot yet researched
Sector / Regulatory2.0/5 · weight 10%
  • Sector regulatory exposure2/5moderate