Why is my BTC balance lower than before I invested?

If your BTC amount is lower than what you had invested, that is likely temporary due to deposit mining fees and the Bitcoin Defense's strategy in the short term. The algorithm prioritizes compounding USD value rather than BTC amount which in a bull run will slightly underperform holding BTC, in an effort to protect investors from market crashes. However during downtrending markets, the higher USD value saved allows the Bitcoin Defense to accumulate more BTC.