How to DCA through a bear market.
Buying the same amount on a fixed schedule sounds too simple to work. In a falling market, the maths quietly does something powerful — and it has one big condition you can’t ignore.
The idea in one sentence
Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) means investing a fixed amount on a fixed schedule — say £100 every month — whatever the price is doing. You stop trying to pick the bottom, and you stop letting the headlines decide for you.
I’ve bought Bitcoin and Solana this way every single week since May 2026, through the July low at $57,950 and the recovery after it. Not because I knew where the bottom was. Because I didn’t.
Why it works when prices fall
A fixed amount buys more coins when the price is low and fewer when it’s high. So your average cost per coin ends up below the average price over the same period. That’s the whole trick — and it’s strongest in exactly the conditions that scare people away.
You put £100 in at £50 a coin: you get 2 coins. Next month it’s fallen to £25, and the same £100 gets you 4 coins.
You’ve spent £200 on 6 coins, so your average cost is £33.33 — even though the average of the two prices was £37.50. The price only has to get back to £33.34 for you to be in profit, not all the way to £50.
Bear market simulator
A hypothetical coin starts at £100. You invest £100 a month for 12 months while it falls, bottoms and recovers. Compare that with putting all £1,200 in on day one.
The condition you can’t ignore
Play with the simulator and you’ll see it: if the price ends below your average cost, DCA still loses money. It lowers your entry; it doesn’t guarantee a profit. DCA only works on something that survives the bear market and comes back.
That’s why what you DCA into matters more than how. Averaging down into a coin that’s heading to zero just means losing money more slowly. In Lesson 3 there are five questions I ask before anything goes in the plan.
The rules I use
- Automate it. A recurring buy on a set day removes the decision — and the temptation to skip the scary weeks.
- Never stop because it’s red. The red weeks are the ones doing the heavy lifting on your average cost.
- Only invest money you won’t need. If you might have to sell in the middle of a bear market, you’ll sell at the worst possible time.
- Decide your exit before you start. DCA in during the quiet years; take profit in stages when everyone is talking about crypto again.
DCA turns falling prices into a lower average cost and takes emotion out of buying. It only pays off on assets that survive — so choose carefully, automate it, and don’t stop when it hurts.
Education only — not financial advice. The simulator uses a hypothetical price path and ignores fees. Cryptoassets are high-risk and largely unregulated in the UK; you could lose all the money you invest. Past performance does not guarantee future results.