How to Track Crypto in Your Net Worth (Without the Headache)

If you own Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other cryptocurrency, it's part of your net worth — but tracking it alongside your bank accounts, retirement funds, and real estate can be surprisingly tricky.

Here's how to do it right.

Why Crypto Makes Net Worth Tracking Complicated

Traditional assets are relatively stable. Your savings account balance doesn't swing 10% overnight. Your home value doesn't drop 30% in a week.

Crypto is different:

• Extreme volatility — Prices can move dramatically in hours
• Multiple wallets and exchanges — You might have assets on Coinbase, in a hardware wallet, and staked on a DeFi protocol
• Tax complexity — Every trade, swap, or yield event can be a taxable event
• 24/7 markets — Unlike stocks, crypto never sleeps

Despite this complexity, ignoring crypto in your net worth gives you an incomplete picture. If you own it, you should track it.

Step 1: Gather Your Holdings

Before you can track anything, you need a complete inventory:

• Centralized exchanges — Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Gemini, etc.
• Hardware wallets — Ledger, Trezor
• Software wallets — MetaMask, Phantom, Trust Wallet
• DeFi positions — Staked tokens, liquidity pools, lending protocols
• NFTs — If they have meaningful value

Write down every asset and its quantity. Don't worry about prices yet — just get the complete list.

Step 2: Choose Your Tracking Method

The Spreadsheet Approach

Create a simple spreadsheet with columns for asset name, quantity, and current price. Update it manually whenever you check your net worth.

Pros: Free, full control Cons: Manual updates, prices go stale, easy to forget positions

Dedicated Crypto Trackers

Apps like CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, or Delta track your crypto portfolio with live prices.

Pros: Real-time prices, portfolio analytics Cons: Only tracks crypto — you still need something else for your full net worth

All-in-One Net Worth Trackers

This is where tools like Nova shine. You can track crypto alongside your bank accounts, retirement funds, real estate, and everything else in one place. Check out Nova's features to see how crypto tracking works.

Pros: Complete financial picture, automatic price updates, AI insights across your entire portfolio Cons: Monthly subscription (though most offer free trials)

Step 3: Decide on Valuation Method

How often should you update crypto values? There are a few schools of thought:

• Real-time — Always use the current market price. Most accurate, but can cause anxiety with volatility.
• Daily close — Use the end-of-day price. Smooths out intraday noise.
• Weekly snapshot — Update once a week. Good for long-term holders who don't want to obsess over price swings.

For most people tracking net worth (not day trading), a daily or weekly snapshot strikes the right balance between accuracy and sanity.

Step 4: Set Allocation Targets

Once you can see crypto as a percentage of your total net worth, you can make better decisions:

• Under 5% — Conservative allocation, appropriate for most people
• 5–15% — Moderate exposure for those bullish on crypto
• Over 15% — High exposure — make sure this is intentional, not just because crypto pumped

The key insight: when crypto rallies hard, it might balloon to a larger percentage of your net worth than you intended. Seeing this clearly helps you decide whether to rebalance.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Forgetting About Cost Basis

Your crypto's current value matters for net worth, but your cost basis matters for taxes. Track both. When you eventually sell, you'll need to know what you paid.

2. Double-Counting

If you transferred Bitcoin from Coinbase to a hardware wallet, make sure you're not counting it in both places.

3. Ignoring Small Positions

That $50 of random altcoins from 2021? It might be worth $0.50 now, or it might have 10x'd. Check everything.

4. Not Including Crypto Debt

If you borrowed against your crypto (on platforms like Aave or Maker), that's a liability. It needs to be subtracted from your net worth just like any other debt.

The Big Picture

Crypto is just one piece of your financial puzzle. The real power comes from seeing it in context — alongside your emergency fund, retirement accounts, home equity, and debts.

That complete picture is what helps you make smarter decisions about saving, investing, and spending. Whether crypto is 1% or 20% of your net worth, knowing the exact number puts you in control.

Start tracking your complete net worth — including crypto — with Nova →

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