~/tools/dca-average-cost
ToolsDCA average cost calculator
After a few buys at different prices, almost nobody knows their true average. Enter up to four purchases — how much you spent and at what price — and see your average cost, your total coins, and your position's value at any price you test.
Your average cost
44.444444
4.5 coins for 200 invested
Position value at that price
202.5
Unrealised profit or loss: 2.5
Empty rows are simply skipped. The calculation ignores buy fees; on most exchanges they shift the average by about 0.1%.
How this calculator works
After several buys at different prices, your break-even point is where most people guess wrong: it is not the average of the prices you paid. Cheaper buys get you more coins, so they pull the average down harder. This calculator divides everything you spent by every coin you received — the only correct average — then values the position at any price you test.
A worked example
You spend $100 at a price of $50 (2 coins) and another $100 at $25 (4 coins). The average of the two prices is $37.50 — but you own 6 coins for $200, so your real average cost is $33.33. At a market price of $35 you are already in profit, even though $35 is below the average price you paid.
Common questions
- Why is my real average lower than the average of my buy prices?
- Because equal amounts of money buy more coins when the price is low. The $100 you spent at $25 bought twice as many coins as the $100 at $50, so the cheap coins weigh twice as much in the average. Spending equal amounts at each buy always makes your average cost lower than the average price.
- Is this the same as dollar-cost averaging?
- It's the arithmetic behind it. DCA is the habit — buying a fixed amount on a schedule regardless of price; this tool shows the result of that habit: your average entry over time. The dollar-cost-averaging article covers why the habit itself removes the pressure of timing the market.
- Should I 'average down' when the price falls?
- The tool can show you what a new buy would do to your average — it cannot tell you whether to make it. Averaging down concentrates more money in one falling asset, which is a risk decision, not arithmetic. The risk-management article covers position limits before conviction.
What this tool can't tell you
The calculator ignores trading fees (each buy actually costs slightly more than you type — the profit-loss calculator prices that) and knows nothing about the asset itself. Your average cost is a fact about your past; it says nothing about where the price goes next.
These tools are for education. They work from the numbers you type and cannot see your accounts, verify who owns an address, or account for your circumstances. Nothing here is financial advice.