S&P500 Historical Price Highs vs. Inflation-Adjusted Highs S&P 500SP:SPXMomentum_Trading_StrategyNominal Price Definition (most used in history books & Wall Street research) Inflation-Adjusted Definition (shown in your chart) If you bought the 1929 top, you weren’t truly back to even (after inflation) until 1958. Same with the 1968 top — real break-even wasn’t until the early ’90s. Same with the 2000 top — real break-even was ~2016. This method shows how devastating secular bears are if you happen to buy at the peak and hold. It makes the secular bears look even longer, because inflation erodes your gains even when the index regains its nominal high.