Gold DCA Calculator
What a fixed monthly buy of Gold actually did — computed from real daily closes (Aug 2000 → Jul 2026), not projections. Run your own amount and schedule below.
What $100 a month actually built
The last 10 years of a $100 monthly plan in Gold, month by month: the flat line is cash paid in ($12,100 total), the accent line is what the position was worth along the way — ending at $27,848. Every point is computed from that day's real close.
Timing luck, quantified
Same plan, different start month. Each bar below is one possible 5-year monthly DCA window in Gold's history, sorted from worst to best — the honest spread between unlucky and lucky timing, and the case for starting on a schedule instead of waiting:
252 possible 5-year start months — 81% ended positive.
Why dollar-cost average into gold?
Gold pays no yield and reports no earnings — its price is a barometer of real interest rates, central-bank buying and fear. That makes it regime-driven: long stretches of drift punctuated by violent repricings (2000s bull, the 2011–2015 slide, the 2024–26 run). A monthly plan is one of the few ways to hold the hedge without betting on which regime comes next; the 25-year backtest above shows what that patience actually paid.
Two honest footnotes. Our series tracks front-month gold futures, which differs slightly from spot or an ETF like GLD once roll costs are counted. And a hedge that spends a decade flat — as gold did after 2011 — tests the discipline a schedule is supposed to protect. The worst-window number above is what that test felt like.
FAQ
History, not opinion: $100 every month into Gold for the last 10 years (121 buys, $12,100 invested) would be worth $27,848 today — +130% before fees and taxes. Past performance doesn't predict the future, but that's what the plan actually produced.
The worst 5-year monthly-DCA start in Gold's history began Dec 2010 and finished at -24%. The best (Mar 2021) finished at +144%. DCA doesn't delete timing luck — it narrows it and removes the decision.
A lump sum bets everything on one entry price. Monthly DCA spreads your cost across Gold's ups and downs — you buy more units when it's cheap, fewer when it's expensive. Compare both directly in our lump sum vs DCA calculator.
Real Gold daily closing prices from Aug 2000 to Jul 2026 (25.9 years), refreshed weekly and validated for gaps, zeros and staleness — see the data & methodology page. Fees, spreads and taxes are not modelled.
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.
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