DCA Calculator
Find out what investing the same amount every month (dollar-cost averaging) would have earned on real historical prices, and what it could grow into in the future.
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Value at the end
$177,267
- Total invested
- $70,000
- Profit
- $107,267 (153.2 %)
- Everything at once at the start
- $294,299
- Investing everything at once would have given $117,032 more.
- The price at the end is 153.2 % above your average purchase price.
- The investment was never below the amount put in.
Calculated from historical data: past returns do not guarantee future results.
How the investment grew
- Monthly investing
- Invested
- Everything at once
September 2026
- Monthly investing$177,267
- Invested$70,000
- Everything at once$294,299
Prices: Tiingo, including reinvested dividends. Exchange rates: ECB and NBU. Past returns don't guarantee future results.
Year by year
| Year | Invested | Value | Everything at once |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $11,500 | $12,118 | $74,051 |
| 2017 | $17,500 | $21,334 | $90,120 |
| 2018 | $23,500 | $25,914 | $86,013 |
| 2019 | $29,500 | $40,676 | $112,868 |
| 2020 | $35,500 | $55,276 | $133,606 |
| 2021 | $41,500 | $77,930 | $172,011 |
| 2022 | $47,500 | $69,488 | $140,753 |
| 2023 | $53,500 | $94,376 | $177,616 |
| 2024 | $59,500 | $124,395 | $221,816 |
| 2025 | $65,500 | $153,048 | $261,111 |
| 2026 | $70,000 | $177,267 | $294,299 |
An estimate for information only, not financial, tax or technical advice. How it is calculated and where the data come from
How dollar-cost averaging works
Dollar-cost averaging means investing the same amount at regular intervals, whatever the price. When prices are low you buy more units, when they are high you buy fewer, so your average purchase price is spread over time.
The History mode uses real month-end prices including reinvested dividends. Each monthly investment is converted with the exchange rate of its month and the result with the rate at the end, so currency moves are part of the result.
The Future mode simulates a thousand possible market paths. It shows a range of results, not a forecast, and past returns don't guarantee future results.
Frequently asked questions
Is it better to invest monthly or everything at once?
When markets rise over the long run, investing everything at once usually ends higher, because the money is invested for longer. Monthly investing lowers the risk of buying everything just before a fall and is easier to keep up with a regular income.
Why do many people invest every month?
It turns investing into a habit, removes the stress of timing the market and spreads purchases over good and bad times. It also fits a regular income better than waiting to save a large amount.
Are dividends included?
Yes. The prices of stocks and funds include reinvested dividends and are adjusted for splits, so the results show the total return.
Why does the result in my currency differ from the result in dollars?
The assets are traded in dollars. Each monthly investment is converted at the exchange rate of that month and the final value at today's rate, so a stronger or weaker home currency changes the result.
How much do fees matter?
More than it seems. A purchase fee is taken from every investment and the annual fund fee from the whole amount every year. Over decades even a small difference in fees adds up to a noticeable part of the result.
What does the worst moment mean?
It is the month in which the investment was furthest below the amount put in so far. It shows what you would have had to sit through without selling.
Can I rely on the future projection?
No, it is not a forecast. It shows the range of possible results if returns and volatility behave like the values you enter. Real markets can be better or worse.
Related articles
- Comparison
Lump sum or dollar-cost averaging? What S&P 500 history says
Should you invest a windfall at once or spread it over a few months? Every start since 1993 compared: how often the lump sum came out ahead, by how much, and when spreading it out helped.
- Data
Buying bitcoin every month since 2014: what it would be worth today
What a fixed monthly purchase of bitcoin since 2014 would be worth today, how deep it fell along the way, how much the start year matters and how it did against the S&P 500.
How it is calculated and where the data come from
How the result is calculated
- History mode buys at the end of every month: the contribution is converted to US dollars with that month's exchange rate, the purchase fee is taken, and units are bought at that month's price. The result is converted back with the rate of the last month.
- Prices are month-end prices adjusted for dividends (total return), so reinvested dividends are part of the result. Cryptocurrencies pay no dividends and use the closing price.
- The yearly fund fee (TER) is taken from the units month by month. For comparison, investing everything at once means putting the sum of all contributions into the first month.
- Future mode simulates 1 000 random paths with the mean return and volatility you enter (log-normal monthly returns). It shows the 10th percentile, the median and the 90th percentile, not a forecast.
Assumptions and limits
- The history covers only the period each asset has existed. A period that happens to end well or badly can make an investment look better or worse than it is.
- Prices are month-end, not daily, so the worst fall inside a month is not shown. Taxes, spreads and platform fees other than those you enter are not included.
- Past returns do not guarantee future results. A single stock or a cryptocurrency can lose most of its value.
- Currency moves are part of the result: the same investment can look different in another currency.
The starting amounts are round examples, not statistics. The return and volatility offered as starting values for Future mode are calculated from the history in our own data and are not a forecast.
Data sources and the period they hold for
Every number a calculator starts with or computes from comes from one of the sources below. Series names are given as the publisher names them. Each row shows the period the data refer to and, where we record it, the day we downloaded them. Official data can be months old when they are published, so check the current figure before you decide.
- Official
- Published by a central bank, a statistical office, the European Union or another public body.
- Research or industry data
- A dataset of a university, an index provider, an industry association or a data vendor.
- Reported
- A figure of an official body that we know only from the press and did not check in the primary source. Treat it as approximate.
- Example
- A round number of ours, not a statistic. Replace it with your own.
Prices of ETFs, stocks and cryptocurrencies
| Source | Period | Type |
|---|---|---|
TiingoMonthly prices of 18 ETFs, stocks and cryptocurrencies, total return (dividends reinvested) where available | 1990-01 – 2026-09downloaded 2026-10-02 | Research or industry data |
Methodology text last reviewed 2026-10-06. Data last downloaded 2026-10-05. How we work with data and sources