Crash simulator · real NSE data to 4 Nov 2026
What if you had invested at the very top?
Pick a crash. Your money goes in on the day the Nifty 50 closed at its record high. Then three investors with the same money and the same mix live through it: one stays put, one pauses the SIP when it hurts, one sells in panic and comes back once it feels safe.
All four crashes, with the starting numbers
₹10 lakh on the day of the record, ₹10,000 a month after that, in a mix of 80% Nifty 50, 10% government bonds and 10% gold. The panic point is a 15% fall in the portfolio. Each replay runs three years, or to 4 Nov 2026 for the latest.
| Crash (start date) | Nifty fall | Money put in | At the worst | Stayed invested | Paused the SIP | Sold in panic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008: the global financial crisis (8 Jan 2008) | −59.9% | ₹13.70 lakh | ₹5.98 lakh | ₹15.66 lakh | ₹14.35 lakh | ₹13.61 lakh |
| 2015–16: the global sell-off (3 Mar 2015) | −22.5% | ₹13.70 lakh | ₹9.54 lakh | ₹16.43 lakh | ₹16.43 lakh | ₹16.43 lakh |
| 2020: the Covid crash (14 Jan 2020) | −38.4% | ₹13.70 lakh | ₹7.20 lakh | ₹19.31 lakh | ₹19.11 lakh | ₹17.15 lakh |
| 2024–26: the long slide (26 Sep 2024, to 4 Nov 2026) | −15.8% | ₹12.70 lakh | ₹9.49 lakh | ₹13.23 lakh | ₹13.23 lakh | ₹13.23 lakh |
Nifty fall: the Nifty 50's drop from its record close to its lowest close. Where all three columns match, the portfolio never fell 15% from its high, so nobody panicked.
What the replays show
What happened to someone who invested at the top in 2008 and stayed invested?
₹10 lakh put into a mix of 80% Nifty 50, 10% government bonds and 10% gold on 8 Jan 2008, plus ₹10,000 a month, was worth ₹5.98 lakh at its lowest, in Oct 2008. By 7 Jan 2011 it was worth ₹15.66 lakh on ₹13.70 lakh put in. The investor who sold everything once the portfolio was down 15%, and bought back only when the Nifty regained its old high, ended with ₹13.61 lakh.
What happened to investors who sold in the 2020 Covid crash?
With the same money and mix from the Nifty's record on 14 Jan 2020, staying invested gave ₹19.31 lakh by 13 Jan 2023. Selling at a 15% fall and buying back at the old high gave ₹17.15 lakh, ₹2.15 lakh less: the sale locked in the fall, and the buy-back came after most of the rebound.
Does pausing a SIP during a crash help?
Not in these replays. The paused instalments sat in the bank while prices were at their lowest. From the 2008 peak, pausing the SIP from the 15% fall until the market regained its high ended with ₹14.35 lakh, against ₹15.66 lakh for carrying on.
How it works: daily closes of the Nifty 50, Nifty Midcap 150 and Nifty Smallcap 250 total return indices and the Nifty 5 yr Benchmark G-Sec index (NSE), and Gold BeES NAVs (AMFI, via mfapi.in). The lump sum goes in on the record-high day; SIP instalments on the first trading day of each month. The panic seller moves everything into government bonds when the portfolio first falls past the panic point, and back into the chosen mix when the chosen share index regains the high it had before the sale. The pauser keeps paused instalments in a bank account at no interest and invests them on the same day. One panic per replay. No fund costs, taxes or exit loads, which would make selling look worse still. Index returns are not fund returns, and past performance may or may not be sustained in future. This is history, not advice.