Buy a fixed amount every week or month — fewer units when price is high, more when it's low — and your average cost gets smoothed out automatically. This tool works from one assumption, that price moves at an even pace from the start price to the end price, and gives the average cost, current value and return of such a plan. Real prices do not move at an even pace; what the method assumes and where it does not apply are set out below.

How to use this DCA return calculator

The amount per period is what you put in on each buy; periods is how many times you buy in total — fill the number of months for monthly, or weeks for weekly. The start and end price are where the coin's price went from and to over the DCA period. The tool takes as many evenly spaced price points between the two as there are periods and buys once at each, the first buy at the start price and the last at the end price. From 60k up to 72k with 13 periods, for example, it buys one tranche each at 60k, 61k and so on up to 72k. The right side then gives the return, and the two bars below put total invested and current value side by side. With periods set to 1, it buys once at the start price and still values the holding at the end price.

How it calculates: an example you can verify by hand

The method has four steps. The price of buy number i = start price + (end price − start price) × (i − 1) ÷ (periods − 1). The quantity bought each time = amount per period ÷ that price. Average cost = total invested ÷ total quantity. Current value = total quantity × end price. Return = (current value − total invested) ÷ total invested.

Enter 100 as the amount per period, 3 periods, a start price of 100 and an end price of 200, and the hand calculation runs as follows:

The three buy prices: 100, 150, 200.
The three quantities: 100 ÷ 100 = 1, 100 ÷ 150 ≈ 0.666667, 100 ÷ 200 = 0.5, about 2.166667 in total.
Total invested: 100 × 3 = 300. Average cost: 300 ÷ 2.166667 ≈ 138.46.
Current value: 2.166667 × 200 ≈ 433.33. Return: (433.33 − 300) ÷ 300 ≈ 44.44%.

The tool should show +44.44%, an average cost of 138.46, a current value of 433.33 and a total quantity of 2.166667. Swap the start and end prices to 200 and 100 and the three buy prices become 200, 150, 100. Total quantity and average cost are unchanged at 2.166667 and 138.46, while the current value becomes 2.166667 × 100 ≈ 216.67 and the return about −27.78%. Over the same decline, buying 300 worth in one go at the start has a cost of 200, and buying in three tranches by this method has an average cost of 138.46. The loss is smaller than with the single purchase, and it is still a loss.

Where this method does not apply

The path in between is not a straight line. With the same start and end prices, the route taken changes the result. In the example above, if the three actual buy prices were 100, 50, 200, the total quantity would be 1 + 2 + 0.5 = 3.5 and the average cost 300 ÷ 3.5 ≈ 85.71; if they were 100, 250, 200, the total quantity would be 1 + 0.4 + 0.5 = 1.9 and the average cost about 157.89. The tool's 138.46 matches only the even climb.
The holding is valued at the end price. The last buy is made at the end price and the valuation uses the end price too, which amounts to assuming you settle up the moment the last buy is done.
No fees and no slippage. Neither the real fill price of each buy nor the trading fee is in the calculation.
A fixed amount every period. A plan that changes the amount along the way or skips periods is not what this calculation describes. Neither is the Spot DCA bot, a different product that adds on price deviation and sells at a take-profit percentage.

It is suited to understanding the arithmetic of buying a fixed amount in tranches, and unsuited to forecasting what any coin will return. To review a real DCA plan, take the actual price and quantity of each fill from your trade history and run the same four steps.

What DCA is really fighting

DCA, dollar-cost averaging, gives up on timing and buys in tranches on a fixed schedule. The arithmetic is this: each buy is a fixed amount of money, which buys fewer coins when the price is high and more when it is low, so the average cost is never above the simple average of the buy prices. In the example above the simple average of the three buy prices is 150 and the average cost is 138.46. Binance's Recurring buys under Convert do exactly this: set the amount and frequency and it buys on schedule, and only buys. The Spot DCA entry on the Trading Bots page sounds similar but follows different rules: it adds on price deviation and sells at a take-profit measured from the average price. For deeper trade-offs, see Binance Academy's DCA explainer.

Note: the result is arithmetic under an "even price path" assumption and is no forecast of where any coin is heading. DCA does not protect principal, and a decline over the whole period still leaves you down. Go by your actual fills; crypto investing is risky.

Related tools and guides

For the settings on Binance's recurring buys and its spot DCA bot, see Binance Recurring Buys vs the Spot DCA Bot. To compare with a grid, read Binance Grid Trading: Spot Grid Rules, Settings, a Worked Example and Why Grids Lose and run the same range through the Grid Profit Simulator. The other bot types are in Binance Trading Bots: The 8 Types.