What dollar-cost averaging actually does — drawdowns, regrets, and all. Not a "how rich would I be" calculator.
Why this exists
Most DCA calculators show you the rosy view: pick a start year, see a big number,
feel either FOMO or smug. They hide the bumpy ride and never compare against alternatives.
This one shows the worst drawdown you would have lived through, what lump-summing
would have done instead, and flags survivorship bias when the numbers look too good.
Truth over trust.
Before you calculate: what do you think the stack would be worth at the end?
Fetching from CoinGecko…
You guessed vs. what actually happened
Your guess
$0
Actual stack value
$0
Stack value at end of period
$0
+$0 (+0%)
Total invested
$0
0 weeks of buying
Bitcoin accumulated
0 BTC
0 sats
Average buy price
$0
cost basis per BTC
Return on investment
0%
0% annualized
Max drawdown
0%
peak → trough
Lump-sum benchmark
$0
if you'd put it all in on day one
Stack value vs. cumulative invested over time
Log scale. The orange line is what you put in. The green line is what your stack was worth at each point.
Cumulative investedStack valuePeakTrough after peak
What this doesn't show
Trading fees, exchange spreads, withdrawal fees
Taxes (capital gains, income reporting)
Exchange failure or KYC freezes (FTX, Mt. Gox style events)
Lost keys, forgotten seeds, hardware failure
That picking a start year ≥ 2014 is itself a survivor's choice — assets that died don't show up here
Whether you would have actually held through the drawdown shown above
Want to do this for real, with the smaller risks managed?
Self-custody, KYC trade-offs, exchange selection — covered in the Curious path.
Educational use only. Past performance does not predict future results.
Bitcoin is volatile and you can lose money. This simulation assumes perfect weekly execution
with no fees, taxes, or operational mistakes. Real outcomes will differ. Not financial advice.
Historical prices: CryptoCompare daily closes, sampled weekly.
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