Microsoft (MSFT) DCA Calculator
What a fixed monthly buy of Microsoft actually did — computed from real daily closes (Mar 1986 → 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 MSFT, 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 $32,250. 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 MSFT'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:
425 possible 5-year start months — 87% ended positive.
Why dollar-cost average into Microsoft?
Microsoft's chart contains the single most instructive stretch in this dataset: after the 2000 peak, the stock spent almost fifteen years underwater, not reclaiming its dot-com high until late 2014. Every one of those years, a monthly plan kept buying a profitable, dominant company at $20–30 — and the cloud era then repriced the whole pile. Lump-sum-at-the-top investors waited a decade and a half to break even; the schedule never needed the old high back.
That desert is also the warning. Fifteen underwater years is longer than most investors' patience, and nothing guarantees today's AI-priced Microsoft can't deliver another one. The plan only works if it survives contact with a decade like 2000–2014.
FAQ
History, not opinion: $100 every month into MSFT for the last 10 years (121 buys, $12,100 invested) would be worth $32,250 today — +167% 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 MSFT's history began Mar 2004 and finished at -37%. The best (Feb 1994) finished at +548%. 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 MSFT'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 MSFT daily closing prices from Mar 1986 to Jul 2026 (40.4 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.
Referral links support the site and never affect the math. Availability varies by country — check your local regulations.