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GLOSSARY/DCA

DCA

INVESTING
DEFINITION
Dollar-cost averaging: buying a fixed dollar amount on a fixed schedule, regardless of price — the strategy that removes timing (and emotion) from stacking.
Buy $50 every Friday and you automatically buy more bitcoin when prices fall and less when they rise. Over full market cycles DCA rarely beats a lucky lump sum — but nobody gets the lucky lump sum reliably, and DCA is the strategy people actually stick with through crashes.
Fees decide where to DCA: recurring-buy fees range from zero (River) to ~1.5% (convenience apps). Over a decade of weekly buys, that gap compounds into a meaningful pile of sats.
IN A SENTENCE
“He has DCA’d $100 a week since 2022 and never once checked the daily price.”

Key facts

Best US venue for DCARiver — 0% recurring fees
Typical app fee1–1.5%
Key disciplineNever pause during crashes

Common questions

DCA or lump sum?

Mathematically lump sum wins slightly more often; behaviorally DCA wins because people actually follow through. The best strategy is the one you keep.

How often should I buy?

Weekly is the common default — frequent enough to smooth volatility, infrequent enough that fixed fees stay negligible.
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