Whether you’re investing in cryptocurrency or other assets, choosing the right investment strategy can be a daunting task. Investing during a bull market is one thing, but trying to time the bottom of the bear market can be risky and foolish.
Fortunately, dollar cost averaging (DCA) provides an alternative strategy for those who are looking to build their portfolio without having to guess what will happen next.
In this blog piece, we’ll explore why dollar cost averaging is a great way to invest in crypto – especially during bear markets – and how it can help you avoid trying to time the bottom of the bear market. We’ll also provide some tips on implementing dollar cost averaging into your investment strategy so that you can maximize your returns while reducing risk. So read on if you’re ready to learn more and become a DCA pro!
What is dollar-cost averaging?
Dollar-cost averaging is an investing strategy used to reduce risk and maximize returns by spreading out purchases over a period of time. It allows you to buy a fixed dollar amount of cryptocurrency on a regular basis, regardless of the current price.
By buying an asset regularly, rather than investing all your money at once, dollar cost averaging helps to minimize the average purchase price per unit, reducing overall risk and allowing for more consistent purchasing power even when crypto and stock prices are low. It also eliminates the need for trying to “catch a falling knife” by trying to time the bottom of the market correctly. Dollar-cost averaging is an effective way for investors to accumulate crypto assets in bear markets while taking advantage of discounted prices.
What is an example of dollar cost averaging?
Imagine you as a hypothetical investor decides to invest $100 per month into Litecoin. If the price of LTC is $50 in month one, you’d buy 2 LTC. If the price is $25 in month two, you’d buy 4 LTC, and if it’s $100 in month three, you’d buy 1 LTC, leaving you with a total of 7 LTC at an average price of $42.86 per coin.
If you had spent all $300 in month one, you’d only have 6 LTC at an average price of $50. By taking advantage of bear market territory in month two, the dollar cost average strategy has left us in a stronger position.
How do I DCA?
Dollar-cost averaging is as simple as 1-2-3:
- Select the digital asset(s) you want to buy
- Choose how much you want to buy
- Decide how frequently you want to buy
Benefits of dollar cost averaging in a bear market
Everyone’s a genius in a bull market when crypto and stock prices are soaring, but investing during a bear market is a different story. Dollar-cost averaging is a great way to average out the cost of an asset over time, which lets crypto enthusiasts like the ones you find in the Coinmama offices to benefit from the discounted prices you see during the bear market.
By investing a fixed dollar amount on a regular basis, dollar cost averaging helps to reduce the average purchase price and encourages consistent purchasing power even when prices are low.
This strategy can also provide opportunities for long-term portfolio building. For example, dollar cost averaging allows for consistent buying opportunities in a bear market scenario rather than trying to nail the market timing by picking the exact bottom of a slowing economy perfectly which as we all know can be difficult and risky. Just because an asset is down 80%, does not mean it can’t drop another 80%.
Take Solana (SOL) for example; SOL dropped 80% from its all-time high of ~$260 in November 2021 to below $50 by May 2022. By November 2022 it had dropped another 80% to below $10.
If you had $10,000 to invest and you made a single purchase of SOL in November 2021, it would have been down over 95% just 12 months later. If you had invested $1000 per month instead, your portfolio would look a LOT healthier!
“Time in the market is more important than timing the market”
Dollar-cost averaging for crypto noobies
Whether you’re a stock market expert or a crypto noobie, dollar cost averaging can be a shrewd investing strategy. As a beginner who wants to get into the cryptocurrency market without over-extending your risk tolerance, however, dollar cost averaging is particularly well-suited.
By investing a fixed dollar amount at regular intervals, dollar cost averaging helps spread out purchases into smaller and more frequent transactions, reducing the potential losses from volatile market swings.
This way, investors can slowly build up their portfolio over time without having to guess what will happen next in the crypto market. As a result, dollar cost averaging can help novice investors make better-informed decisions while also taking advantage of lower prices when they come along in bear markets.
Managing emotions
Crypto enthusiasts are often emotional characters. A quick glance around the Coinmama office is proof of that! Dollar-cost averaging eliminates emotional biases from investing decisions by focusing on dollar amounts rather than individual prices.
This way, you can focus on accumulating assets at lower points in bear markets while also creating a budget that suits your needs and goals. Dollar-cost averaging provides an effective approach to reducing risk while providing consistent growth opportunities over time no matter what the market conditions may be.
What are the disadvantages of dollar cost averaging?
One of the potential downsides to dollar cost averaging in cryptocurrency is that, due to its strategy of consistent investments over time, it can result in purchasing more crypto when prices are high and less when prices are low. This means that dollar-cost averaging may not be as effective at capitalizing on bear market bottoms as investors might hope.
It should also be noted that dollar cost averaging is more appropriate as a long-term strategy rather than trying to capitalize on short-term gains or losses. So, if you’re the type of person who’s just looking to make a quick buck, dollar cost averaging might not be for you.
Dollar-cost averaging also requires discipline on the part of the investor who must commit to sticking with the strategy even if they experience losses along the way.
Using dollar cost averaging to supplement other investment strategies
Using dollar-cost averaging in conjunction with other investing strategies can be beneficial for investors as it can help to further reduce the risk associated with volatile markets. Spreading out investments over time, and eliminating emotional biases associated with volatile markets are fantastic benefits of the DCA method, but that doesn’t mean you need to allocate the entirety of your investment capital to this approach.
One option is to set a portion of your funds aside for dollar cost averaging and use the remainder for a different strategy of your choosing.
For example, a hypothetical investor might allocate 50% of their capital into regular crypto purchases (DCA) and keep the remainder for a “buy the dip” fund that can be built over time.
By combining dollar cost averaging with other strategies in this way, you get to gain exposure to the market with regular purchases while also experimenting with other methods. Then, you can compare the results.
Employing a DCA approach along with other investing strategies is an effective way for new investors to enter the cryptocurrency market without taking on too much risk while still having potential for growth over time.
Variations on the dollar cost averaging strategy
There are a number of variations on the DCA strategy under various names such as weighted dollar cost averaging, value cost averaging, and enhanced dollar cost averaging (EDCA). These alternative dollar cost averaging strategies generally require an investor to adjust their investment levels after either a negative or positive return period – reducing contributions following strong gains and increasing them throughout downturns. In other words, you buy more when prices are low and less when prices are high. This has been demonstrated to further reduce risk while – in many cases – yielding greater returns.
Although this has the potential of leading you away from bullish trends, historical data suggests that missing out during these times often isn’t detrimental in the grand scheme of things!
Final thoughts
In conclusion, while dollar cost averaging works in many cases for long-term investors, it is important to understand all of its potential drawbacks and limitations before implementing it in your portfolio. Using variations on the DCA strategy such as EDCA, or combining DCA with other investing strategies may be preferable for you depending on your risk appetite and personal preference.
As with all personal finance and investing strategies, careful monitoring and tracking will help ensure that your investments are done wisely. Ultimately, dollar cost averaging remains an attractive opportunity for those looking for consistent portfolio growth without the hassle and stress of having to guess what will happen next in the crypto market!
