It does make a difference and a big one!
Suppose investing $100, buy at $8000 and sell at $8200. Profit = $2.5 (regardless of fees)
Suppose investing $100, buy at $40000 and sell at $40200. Profit = $0.5! (regardless of fees)
So, to earn the same $2.5, you have to sell at $41.000! In fact, you need 5x more price movement to achieve the same result. Bitcoin doesn't fluctuate $1000 every day.
Not a realistic example. Price swings are not limited to $200 at $40K.
In percentage terms, the daily swings we're seeing now (5-10% daily, 15% today) are much bigger than when we were trading in the $8,000s. In June and July last year, it was typical to have 0-2% daily swings.
So sure, in absolute $ terms you need more price movement at higher prices to achieve the same profits. But we're getting that,
and more. It's % price movement that matters.
Anyone who is skilled at trading volatility is making a killing off this market, that's for sure.