What is dollar-cost averaging (DCA) in crypto?
Dollar-cost averaging means buying a fixed amount on a schedule instead of all at once. How it works, an example, its trade-offs, and how to set it up.
Updated Dec 3, 2026
In short
Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is buying a fixed amount of something on a regular schedule, say $100 of BTC every week, whatever the price. You buy more when it's cheap and less when it's dear, so you don't have to pick the right day. It doesn't make a bad investment good, and in a market that only rises a single lump sum would have done better; it spreads out the timing risk and makes buying a habit.
How it works
Pick an amount and a schedule, and buy that amount each time regardless of the price.
Say you spend $100 a week for four weeks, and the price is $50, $40, $25 and $50. You buy 2, 2.5, 4 and 2 coins: 10.5 coins for $400, an average of about $38 each. The average of the four prices was about $41: buying the same amount of money each time means buying more of it when it's cheap.
The trade-offs
- Good for: steady saving, taking the stress out of timing, and avoiding putting everything in at a high.
- Not good for: making up for a weak asset. Averaging into something that keeps falling just buys more of it.
- Costs: every buy pays a fee, and on a blockchain, gas.
In Burokku
Recurring buys set up a schedule of buys, every day, week or month, three ways:
- From a wallet: each time, a swap is ready for you to sign.
- From a trading wallet: Burokku buys by itself, within your limits, after you confirm once with your second step.
- On an exchange: Burokku places each buy with a key that can trade but never withdraw, within the key's limits.
Buys that happen by themselves need automations turned on, and you can pause any of them at any time. Every buy shows in your history, your profit and loss and your tax report. See also how to set up your first automation.
Questions
- Is DCA better than buying all at once?
- Not always. Over long rising periods, investing everything at once has often done better, because the money is in the market sooner. DCA trades some of that for less regret about timing and a steadier habit.
- Do recurring buys cost more in fees?
- More buys mean more fees, and on a blockchain each one pays gas. Buying weekly or monthly, or on a cheap chain or an exchange, keeps that down.