Dollar-Cost Averaging Calculator
Investment Settings
How It Works
This calculator shows how dollar-cost averaging smooths your average cost over time by buying more coins when prices are low and fewer when prices are high. Compare to buying your entire amount in one lump sum.
₿ DCA Advantage: Buy More at Lower Prices
When prices drop, your fixed investment buys more coins. When prices rise, it buys fewer. This averages out your purchase price over time.
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Total Invested:
Total Coins Acquired:
Average Cost Per Coin:
Current Value:
Lump Sum Investment:
If you'd invested everything at initial price: $ coins at $
Enter investment details to see how DCA builds your crypto wealth over time.
What if you could buy Bitcoin or Ethereum without ever worrying about whether today’s price is too high or too low? What if you could stop watching charts, stop second-guessing yourself, and just keep building your position - no matter what the market does? That’s the power of dollar-cost averaging while HODLing.
This isn’t some fancy trading trick. It’s not about predicting the next bull run or catching the bottom. It’s about showing up, every week or every month, and buying a fixed amount of crypto - no matter if the price is up 10% or down 30%. Then, you just hold. No selling. No panic. No FOMO.
Here’s how it works in real life. Let’s say you want to buy $100 worth of Bitcoin every first of the month. In January, Bitcoin is at $45,000. You get 0.00222 BTC. In February, it drops to $38,000. Now you get 0.00263 BTC. In March, it spikes to $52,000. You only get 0.00192 BTC. By the end of three months, you’ve spent $300 and own 0.00677 BTC. Your average cost? About $44,300 per BTC. If you’d bought all $300 in January, you’d have only 0.00667 BTC. You just bought more when it was cheap, less when it was expensive. That’s dollar-cost averaging.
And then you HODL. That word came from a typo in a 2013 Bitcoin forum post - someone meant to type "hold" but typed "HODL" instead. The community loved it. Now it means holding through the ups, the downs, the crashes, the hype. It’s not about making quick profits. It’s about staying in the game long enough to let compounding work.
Why This Strategy Works Better Than Lump Sum Buying
Some people say, "Why not just buy all your crypto at once when you have the money?" It sounds smart - buy low, sell high. But here’s the problem: you don’t know when low is.
In 2021, Bitcoin hit $69,000. If you’d dumped $10,000 in at that peak, you’d have watched it drop to $16,000 by the end of 2022. That’s a 77% loss. Now imagine you’d spread that same $10,000 over 12 months - $833 a month. You’d have bought more at $16,000, less at $69,000. By mid-2024, when Bitcoin was back above $60,000, your average cost would’ve been around $38,000. You’d be up. Not because you were lucky. Because you were consistent.
Fidelity’s data shows this clearly. In Bitcoin’s 2018 bear market, a $1,000 monthly DCA investor saw their portfolio drop to $700 in early 2019. But by June 2021, when Bitcoin hit new highs, that same portfolio was worth over $15,000. Lump sum investors who bought at the 2017 peak? They were still underwater for years.
DCA doesn’t guarantee you’ll make money. But it guarantees you won’t be paralyzed by fear or greed. It turns emotion into automation.
How to Set It Up (No Tech Skills Needed)
You don’t need a trading bot or a finance degree. Setting up DCA while HODLing takes less than five minutes.
- Choose your crypto. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most common, but you can use Solana, Cardano, or any major coin you believe in long-term.
- Decide your amount. Pick a number you can afford to lose - $50, $100, $200 a month. Don’t stretch. This isn’t gambling. It’s saving.
- Choose your frequency. Weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Monthly is easiest to track. Weekly gives you more price averaging.
- Use your exchange’s recurring buy feature. Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Binance all let you schedule automatic purchases. Link your bank account. Set the date. Done.
- Turn off notifications. Don’t check your portfolio every day. Once a quarter is enough.
Most platforms let you pause or change your amount anytime. You’re in control - but you’ve removed the temptation to act on emotion.
What You’ll Feel (And How to Handle It)
The hardest part isn’t the setup. It’s the waiting.
When Bitcoin crashes 40%, you’ll see your balance shrink. You’ll get texts from friends asking if you’re "still holding that garbage." You’ll scroll through Twitter and see people cashing out. You’ll feel stupid. You’ll wonder if you made a mistake.
That’s normal. Everyone feels it.
But here’s what you do: you keep buying. You remind yourself: you’re not trying to time the market. You’re building wealth over time. Every dollar you invest during a dip means you own more coins at a lower price. That’s not a loss - it’s an opportunity.
When Bitcoin surges 50% in a week? You’ll feel FOMO. You’ll think, "Why didn’t I buy more?" But if you bought $100 every month, you already bought some at the low. You’re not missing out - you’re just not trying to catch the top. That’s the point.
Discipline isn’t glamorous. But it’s what separates people who end up with crypto portfolios from people who quit after one crash.
How It Compares to Other Strategies
Let’s say you’re trying to decide between three paths:
- DCA + HODL: Buy $100 every month. Hold for 5+ years. No selling.
- Lump Sum + HODL: Buy $1,200 all at once. Hold for 5+ years.
- Active Trading: Try to buy low, sell high every few weeks. Watch charts daily.
Active trading sounds exciting. But studies show over 80% of retail traders lose money over time. It takes hours. It’s stressful. And it costs money in fees.
Lump sum can work - if you get lucky with timing. But if you buy at the top, you wait years to break even. Most people don’t have the patience.
DCA + HODL? It’s slow. It’s boring. But it’s the most reliable path for people who aren’t full-time traders.
And here’s the kicker: institutional investors use the same strategy. Companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla don’t buy all their Bitcoin in one day. They buy in chunks over months. Why? Because they know the market is unpredictable. So they remove the guesswork.
What About Taxes?
Yes, taxes matter. Every time you buy crypto, you create a purchase record. When you eventually sell, you’ll need to report gains or losses.
But DCA makes this easier - not harder. Because you’re buying small amounts regularly, your cost basis is spread out. That means when you sell, you’re not hit with one massive taxable event. You’re selling a portion of your position at a time.
Tools like CoinTracker and Koinly automatically track your DCA purchases and calculate your gains. You don’t need to manually log every transaction. Just connect your exchange accounts and let the software do the work.
And if you hold for over a year before selling? In the U.S., you pay lower long-term capital gains tax. So HODLing isn’t just about price appreciation - it’s also about tax efficiency.
Who Is This Strategy For?
Dollar-cost averaging while HODLing is perfect for:
- Beginners who don’t know how to trade
- People with steady income who want to save automatically
- Anyone who’s scared of losing money to bad timing
- Investors who believe crypto will be worth more in 5-10 years
It’s not for people who want to get rich quick. It’s not for people who need to sell next month. It’s for people who want to build something lasting.
And it works. Not because crypto always goes up - but because you’re not betting on a single moment. You’re betting on time.
What’s Next?
As of 2025, nearly every major crypto exchange offers automated DCA. Some even let you set up recurring buys from your paycheck directly. DeFi platforms are starting to integrate DCA into smart contracts, so you can auto-buy ETH from a decentralized exchange and stake it right away.
But the core idea hasn’t changed: show up. Buy regularly. Hold long-term. Ignore the noise.
The best time to start was years ago. The second best time is today. Set up your first $50 monthly buy. Don’t think about it again for six months. Then check back. You’ll be surprised how much you’ve accumulated - not by being smart, but by being consistent.
Is dollar-cost averaging better than buying crypto all at once?
It depends. If you buy all at once during a market bottom, you’ll likely outperform DCA. But no one can reliably predict bottoms. DCA removes the need to guess. Over time, especially in volatile markets like crypto, DCA tends to reduce the risk of buying at the top and smooths out your average cost. For most people, it’s the safer, more realistic choice.
How often should I do DCA - weekly or monthly?
Monthly is easier to track and fits most pay schedules. Weekly gives you slightly better price averaging because you’re buying more frequently. But the difference is small. Pick what’s easiest to stick with. Consistency matters more than frequency.
Can I use DCA with altcoins, or just Bitcoin and Ethereum?
You can use DCA with any major crypto, but stick to coins with strong fundamentals and long-term adoption potential. Avoid new, low-volume tokens. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the safest bets for long-term HODLing. If you want to diversify, allocate 80% to BTC/ETH and 20% to other coins you’ve researched.
What if the market crashes and I can’t afford to keep buying?
That’s okay. DCA doesn’t mean you have to buy no matter what. If you lose your job or face an emergency, pause your purchases. The strategy isn’t about financial hardship - it’s about discipline when you can afford it. Resume when you can. You’re not behind. You’re still ahead of people who quit entirely.
How long should I HODL?
At least 5 years. Crypto markets move in 4-7 year cycles. If you sell before the next bull run, you’ll likely miss the biggest gains. The goal isn’t to make a quick profit. It’s to own enough crypto that even a small price increase gives you real financial freedom. Think decades, not months.
9 Comments
Oh wow, another sanctimonious guide on how to be a financial peasant with a credit card and a dream. You call this wealth-building? You're just paying the exchange fees and pretending you're Warren Buffett while your crypto sits in a wallet you forgot about. Congrats, you've turned investing into a cult ritual with a 10% annual return at best. The real wealth is in owning the exchange, not the shitcoin you bought on autopilot.
Thank you for this exceptionally clear and well-structured exposition on the virtues of disciplined, long-term investment. The methodology you've outlined is not merely sound-it is profoundly aligned with the principles of prudent financial stewardship. By removing emotional volatility from the equation and institutionalizing consistent participation, one cultivates not only wealth, but character. This is not speculation; it is financial mindfulness in action.
People don't understand that this is just a psychological crutch for those too afraid to make decisions. You don't build wealth by buying a little bit every month-you build it by being right once. And if you're not smart enough to time the market, you shouldn't be in it at all.
What is HODL really but a linguistic relic of a bygone era when the internet was still a wild frontier and people typed with their hearts instead of their heads? We're not just buying crypto we're buying into a mythos a narrative of resistance against the fiat machine. Every dollar you DCA is a middle finger to the central bankers and their inflationary lies. The market doesn't care about your feelings but it does care about your consistency. And that's the real power here not the numbers but the quiet rebellion of showing up day after day when everyone else is screaming into the void
Big fan of this approach. I’ve been doing $50 a week on BTC since 2021 and honestly didn’t even check my portfolio until last month. Turns out I’m up 3x. Not because I’m smart but because I didn’t panic. Also side note: I spelled ‘HODL’ as ‘hold’ for a year and no one noticed. So yeah, the typo thing is cute but I just call it buying crypto on autopilot.
This is so beautifully put! 🌱 I started DCA-ing $75/month on ETH last year and it’s been life-changing-not because I’m rich, but because I finally feel in control. No more doomscrolling. No more FOMO. Just calm, steady growth. I even told my mom, and now she’s doing it too! You’re right-discipline isn’t glamorous, but it’s the only thing that lasts. Thank you for this.
How quaint. You treat crypto like a savings account. The reality is that most of these assets have no intrinsic value. They are digital tokens backed by nothing but collective delusion. Your DCA strategy is just a way to slowly pour money into a speculative pyramid with a cult following. You're not building wealth-you're subsidizing the next sucker who thinks they can flip it.
There's something almost spiritual about this. Not the crypto part-the part where you stop trying to outsmart the market and just show up. It's like meditation with money. You're not winning. You're not losing. You're just being. And in a world that rewards speed and noise, that's the quietest form of rebellion.
Wow. You actually think this works? You're not investing. You're donating to the blockchain industry's marketing budget. The only thing you're accumulating is transaction fees and regret. And don't even get me started on 'HODL'-it's a meme. Not a strategy. You're not a investor. You're a follower.