BEAT THE COUCH · THE DAILY ARCHIVE · DEALT JUL 22, 2026

Day 11 · The Dot-Com Bust

THE SECRET WINDOW: NOV 16, 1999 TO NOV 19, 2001 · 504 TRADING DAYS

On July 22, 2026 everyone who opened the game got the same secret two years: November 16, 1999 to November 19, 2001, the dot-com bust. The couch bought on day one, never sold, and turned $10,000 into $8,471 (-15.3%). 78% of the players who tried beat it.

THE COUCH'S $10,000, DAY BY DAY, REAL DAILY DATA

$10,000 START $8,471 Nov 16, 1999 Nov 19, 2001

What the couch did

ENDED WITH$8,471 (-15.3%)
WORST DRAWDOWN-36% by Sep 21, 2001
WORST SINGLE DAY-5.8% Apr 14, 2000
BEST SINGLE DAY+5.0% Jan 3, 2001
CASH INSTEAD (T-BILLS)+9.9%

The era

The dot-com bust. The S&P 500 lost about half its value from the March 2000 top. September 11 landed in the middle of it, and the accounting scandals came after. A long, grinding way down.

THE EXHIBIT: THE DOT-COM BUST. EVERYONE WHO PLAYED WAS THERE.

What the players did

BEAT THE COUCH78.4%
  WITH CERTIFIED SKILL12.5%
  BY LUCK65.9%
COUCH WINS11.4%
DEAD HEAT3.4%
ENLIGHTENED (TOUCHED NOTHING)6.8%
MEDIAN RESULT vs THE COUCH+11.3%
MEDIAN TRADES6
MEDIAN TIME IN MARKET75%

The read

A falling market, and the humans finally showed up: 78% of players beat the couch. Before anyone frames it, only 12.5% passed the monkey audit. Most of the winners were simply out of the market while it fell, which is not the same as knowing it would.

Player figures count every official and replayed attempt at this exact hand filed on the day it was dealt, from the run export of October 31, 2026. A win counts as SKILL only if it beats 90% of 1,000 monkeys replaying the same window with the same trade count and the same time in the market. Across the whole ledger the couch wins 62% of 120,800 games.

The archive has the long version of this stretch: Could You Have Beaten the Dot-Com Crash?

Play the past handthe same two years everyone got on Jul 22, 2026. Free, no signup. No streak, no standings: filed as a REPLAY.

Or play today's hand. It stays secret until tomorrow.

Frequently asked

What was the Beat the Couch daily hand on July 22, 2026?

Day 11 dealt the two years from November 16, 1999 to November 19, 2001, the dot-com bust. A couch that bought on day one and never sold turned $10,000 into $8,471 (-15.3%).

How often did players beat the couch on day 11?

78.4% of the players who filed the hand beat the couch. 12.5% passed the 1,000-monkey skill audit; the rest of the winners were stamped LUCKY.

Can I still play the day 11 hand?

Yes. The past hand button deals the exact same window. It is filed as a replay: it does not touch your streak, the daily standings or the public ledger.

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Not financial advice. The couch is not licensed for anything.