Well, the data did include Bitcoin's first rise above $1000 and subsequent crash (which most people called "a bubble"). If you had bought right before that one

Well, the data did include Bitcoin's first rise above $1000 and subsequent crash (which most people called "a bubble"). If you had bought right before that one "popped", yes - you would have waited a while to be back in positive territory, so that's one time window where you might have lost money compared to the algorithm, but only if you were impatient.