DCA Backtesting Tool
Test any dollar-cost-averaging strategy against real history: pick an asset, an amount, and a frequency, and see exactly what the plan would have produced — invested total, average cost, final value, best and worst stretches. 600+ assets, 15+ years of daily closes, free.
What a proper DCA backtest has to get right
A backtest is only as honest as its mechanics. Ours executes each scheduled buy at the actual daily close — never intraday lows, never averaged months — and rolls weekend/holiday buys forward to the next real trading day for stocks. Every unit is tracked so the average cost you see is the true dollar-weighted figure, not the simple mean of prices.
Just as important is what a backtest can't tell you. Historical windows embed survivorship (the assets listed are the ones that made it) and one-off adoption cycles (Bitcoin's 2014→2021 run). The right use of this tool is comparative and behavioral: how did the strategy handle 2018? What did staying the course through 2022 do to average cost? Which frequency mattered — and which didn't? For the full method, see the data & methodology page.
FAQ
A DCA backtester simulates a recurring-investment strategy against real historical prices: it executes your chosen amount and frequency on every scheduled date in the window, accumulates units at each day's actual close, and reports total invested, average cost, final value, and return — what would have happened if you'd run the plan.
750+ assets across three classes: 150+ cryptocurrencies (BTC from 2014, ETH from 2017, SOL, and more), 600+ US stocks & ETFs (SPY, QQQ, AAPL, NVDA…), and 15 commodities (gold, silver, oil, copper…). Multi-asset portfolios can be backtested in the portfolio builder.
Buys fill at real daily closing prices from the selected start to end date. Fees, spread, slippage, taxes, and dividends are not modelled — so crypto results are slightly optimistic and stock results slightly conservative (dividends would add to them). Treat outputs as strategy analysis, not accounting.
Yes — the dedicated lump sum vs DCA calculator runs both strategies on the same window and shows which won and by how much, alongside the historical win rates.
Completely — no account, no email, no paywall. The site is supported by clearly-labeled exchange referral links, which never affect the math.
Embed this calculator on your site
Writing about dollar-cost averaging? Drop the live calculator into your article — free, no key, no tracking of your readers. Swap /crypto for /stocks or /commodities in the URL to change the default asset class.
<iframe src="https://dcamethod.com/embed/dca/crypto" title="DCA Calculator — DCA Method" width="100%" height="760" frameborder="0" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="font-size:12px"><a href="https://dcamethod.com/dca-backtesting-tool">DCA backtesting tool</a> by DCA Method</p>
The widget stays up to date automatically — it runs on the same weekly-refreshed data as this page.
Run the plan on a real exchange
Five exchanges where DCA — and tokenized stocks & ETFs — actually work, each with a real discount. Pick one, copy the code, trade cheaper.
Referral links support the site and never affect the math. Availability varies by country — check your local regulations.