Dollar-cost averaging (DCA)

Because the same dollar amount buys more units when price is low and fewer units when price is high, DCA smooths out the effect of any single entry being unusually well- or badly-timed.

For example, investing $100 a week for four weeks at prices of $50,000, $55,000, $45,000, and $50,000 buys 0.00200, 0.00182, 0.00222, and 0.00200 units respectively — about 0.00804 units total for $400 spent, for an average cost of roughly $400 ÷ 0.00804 ≈ $49,749 per unit.

A common mistake is treating DCA as a strategy that guarantees a profit. It reduces the risk of mistiming a single entry, but it does nothing to protect against the asset's price simply being lower than your average cost when you eventually need to sell.