What is Dollar Cost Averaging? Is it Really Effective? Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is an investing strategy that involves spending a small, fixed amount on a particular asset at regular intervals regardless of the asset’s current market price.
It’s a classic technique that many investors turn to when they need to minimize risk and reduce the amount they pay for their investments. The general belief is that making multiple buys maximizes an investor’s chances of paying the lowest possible average price over time. Dollar-cost averaging isn’t just a sound investment strategy for traditional securities, either. DCA is also beneficial for investors in non-traditional assets such as cryptocurrencies. This applies whether they are interested in trading the popular Bitcoin or altcoins like Monero, which offers privacy and security. Most of the time, crypto users can contend better with digital currencies’ infamous price volatility by making steady, regular payments instead of buying and selling in large lump sums. Dollar-cost average can yield results that are comparable to, or even better than, the traditional practice of buying low and selling high. This tried-and-true investing strategy is described in detail and illustrated in real life. What is Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA), and How Does It Work? Dollar-cost averaging is a strategy that’s typically used to mitigate price risk when buying shares from exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, or the stock market. You can use it with some success to buy alternative assets, such as cryptocurrencies. A lot of people aim to invest in one security at a time. This is usually when the purchase price has fallen. Instead of investing a large amount, DCA allows you to divide it into smaller, fixed payments that will be made on an ongoing basis. DCA allows investors to ignore price fluctuations and keep investing the same amount over time in their asset of choice. For example, if you intend to invest 1,500 USD in a mutual fund, you can divide that investment into 15 monthly payments each of 100 USD. The monthly payment will invariably get you more shares when the price is low, and less shares when it’s high. You may have more shares if your payments are spread out than if everything were bought at once. What are the Benefits of DCA Asset prices tend to increase over long periods of time, but they don’t rise consistently in the near term. Most commonly, the cost for securities will fluctuate in short-term without following any pattern or predictability. Investors often attempt to time markets, buying assets when prices are low and selling them when they’re at their highest. Even experienced stock traders will not be able to predict the short-term movements of the market. The most favorable prices for any given assets can only truly be determined in retrospect when it’s too late to buy. Many investors who attempt to time asset purchase often buy at prices that have fallen after an asset has experienced substantial gains. Research has shown that trying to predict the market will cost you more than it makes you return. Charles Schwab, a multi-national financial services company, conducted a study that showed investors who attempted to time the market saw a drastic drop in overall profits compared to those who invested more frequently via dollar cost aggregation. When you use DCA, you’re actually working to bring down your average cost per share over time. DCA helps you to keep your money working for yourself consistently which is essential for long-term investments. DCA also has the added benefit of removing any psychological or emotional factors that could affect your investment decisions. By making regular set payments, you can avoid panic-selling and other bad decisions in the long term. Who should consider DCA? For novice investors, dollar-cost averaging can be an effective strategy. DCA offers you the opportunity to place small amounts of money frequently into the market. Making these payments consistently will allow you to benefit from market growth even if you don’t have a lot of capital saved up to start with. DCA is also attractive to investors who don’t want to do the extensive research involved in learning how to time markets. Even if your money is large, investing all of it in one asset can cause stress, even though the potential benefits are great. You might find it more beneficial to invest a smaller amount of your wealth at one time. This will give you greater control over your money. Though some might consider it a basic investing strategy, there’s a reason DCA has persisted for so long among both novice and more experienced investors. In the long run, it’s a highly dependable way to minimize investment costs and maximize returns.
