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Bitcoin DCA Calculator

Pick an amount, frequency and start date — see exactly how much BTC you'd hold today, your average buy price, profit / loss, and a side-by-side with lump-sum buying on the same date.

Result

Loading 12+ years of daily BTC prices…

What is Dollar-Cost Averaging?

DCA means investing a fixed amount on a fixed schedule — for example $100 every Monday — regardless of price. The point is mechanical execution: you remove emotion, you don't try to time the bottom, and you accept that some purchases will be at high prices and others at lows. Over a long horizon those purchases average out and the strategy quietly accumulates a position without the regret risk of going all-in right before a 60–80% drawdown.

Why DCA fits Bitcoin specifically

Bitcoin has lived through four full cycles, each marked by an 80%+ correction from its top followed by a new all-time high years later. Predicting the top or bottom of any given cycle is — in practice — guesswork. DCA sidesteps that prediction entirely: you keep buying whether the market is in greed or fear. Historically this has produced lower returns than a perfectly-timed lump-sum bottom-buy, but materially better returns than poorly-timed lump-sum buys made anywhere near a cycle top.

What this calculator does

  • Pulls daily BTC/USD closing prices back to April 2013 (CoinGecko).
  • Simulates buying your chosen amount at every scheduled purchase date.
  • Snaps each purchase to the first available daily close on or after that date.
  • Reports your total invested, BTC acquired, average buy price, current portfolio value, profit / loss in dollars and percent, and CAGR.
  • Compares your DCA outcome against putting the entire total in as a single lump-sum buy on the start date.
  • Plots the equity curve: portfolio value vs cumulative invested over the full period.

What it doesn't include

  • Exchange fees and spreads. Most exchanges charge 0.1–1% per trade; over a long DCA these compound. Subtract roughly 0.2–0.5% from each purchase for a realistic net figure.
  • Capital gains tax. Jurisdiction-dependent; not modelled.
  • Slippage. Calculator assumes you got the exact daily close. Live fills will differ intraday.
  • Self-custody overhead. Hardware wallet costs, transaction fees on withdrawal, etc.

The numbers here are a clean back-test of price action — useful for sizing decisions and historical context. Not a substitute for live execution data.

FAQ

What is Bitcoin DCA?
Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) means investing a fixed amount at regular intervals — for example $100 every Monday — regardless of price. Over a long horizon DCA reduces the impact of short-term volatility and removes the need to time entries. Compared to a single lump-sum buy, DCA typically produces lower returns when the asset trends strongly upward but materially lower drawdowns when the asset enters a deep bear market.
How accurate is this Bitcoin DCA calculator?
The calculator uses daily closing BTC/USD prices from CoinGecko going back to 2013. For each scheduled purchase date it finds the first available daily close on or after that date and assumes you bought BTC at exactly that price with no fees and no slippage. Real-world results will differ slightly because of exchange fees, spreads and the price you actually fill at intraday — but the long-run direction and magnitudes match closely.
DCA or lump sum — which performs better on Bitcoin?
Historically on Bitcoin, lump-sum buying has outperformed DCA in pure return terms over most multi-year horizons because BTC has trended strongly higher over time. But DCA reduces the regret risk of putting your entire stack in right before a 60–80% drawdown — which has happened in every cycle. The right choice depends on how much volatility you can tolerate without selling out of fear. Run both with this calculator to see the exact spread for your chosen dates.
Does this calculator include fees or taxes?
No. The calculator simulates the pure price-based outcome — no exchange fees, no spreads, no withdrawal costs and no capital gains tax. Most Bitcoin exchanges charge 0.1–1% per trade; on a long DCA run those fees compound. If you want a realistic net outcome, subtract roughly 0.2–0.5% from the total invested for each purchase.
What date range can I use?
From late April 2013 (the start of reliable daily BTC/USD records) through today. The calculator clamps your start date to the earliest available trading day if you pick something earlier.
Why are CoinGecko prices used and not exchange prices?
CoinGecko aggregates volume-weighted BTC/USD prices across hundreds of exchanges and provides reliable continuous history back to 2013. Single-exchange data has gaps (downtime, delistings, regional shutdowns) that make long back-runs unreliable. CoinGecko's aggregate is the cleanest source for a long-horizon DCA simulation.

Want to time entries better than pure DCA?

btclyzer's free live dashboard fuses RSI, MACD, EMA, Bollinger, Stoch RSI, Fear & Greed, CBBI and on-chain data into a single BUY / SELL / HODL rating across 5 timeframes. Use it to bias your DCA — accelerate buys when the rating is BUY, slow them down when it's SELL.

Open the dashboard →