DCA Calculator
See what regularly investing a fixed amount would actually have grown to — using real recorded price history, not a projected average return — and compare it against putting the same total in as a lump sum on day one.
Every contribution snaps forward to that asset's next real trading day on or after your chosen day of the month, so a weekend or holiday never skips a buy. Assets whose history starts later than your selected start date — Bitcoin (September 2014) or Ethereum (November 2017) — simply begin contributing from their first available price instead of failing outright. None of the price series here include reinvested dividends, which keeps a yield-paying index and a non-yielding asset like gold or Bitcoin on equal footing. "Lump Sum" shows what the same total would have grown to if invested all at once on the first contribution date instead.
| Asset | Contributions | Total Invested | DCA End Value | DCA Return | Lump Sum End Value | Lump Sum Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 60 | $12,000 | $18,358 | +52.98% | $20,318 | +69.31% |
| Dow Jones | 60 | $12,000 | $15,993 | +33.28% | $17,295 | +44.13% |
| NASDAQ | 60 | $12,000 | $20,559 | +71.32% | $21,056 | +75.47% |
| Gold | 60 | $12,000 | $21,170 | +76.41% | $28,305 | +135.88% |
| Silver | 60 | $12,000 | $25,454 | +112.12% | $30,750 | +156.25% |
| Bitcoin | 60 | $12,000 | $23,299 | +94.16% | $16,457 | +37.14% |
| Ethereum | 60 | $12,000 | $13,684 | +14.04% | $7,038 | -41.35% |
| MSCI World | 60 | $12,000 | $17,696 | +47.47% | $18,682 | +55.68% |
DCA Portfolio Value Over Time
Running value of a $200/month contribution plan into each selected asset.
Track Your Real Portfolio
This backtest uses a hypothetical contribution plan. Portfolio Tracker follows your actual holdings and contribution dates instead, with a live value chart and one-time email alerts when it crosses a target.
How This Backtest Works
A monthly contribution plan behaves very differently from a single lump-sum bet, and the only honest way to see how is to replay it against real closing prices rather than a smoothed average return. Starting from your first contribution date, this tool buys each selected asset on its next trading day on or after your chosen day of the month, keeps a running tally of units bought, and marks the whole position to the latest available price.
Historical Market Comparison answers a related but different question — what a single amount invested on one date would be worth today — while Market Crashes narrows that same single-investment question down to specific historic peaks and troughs. This is the only one of the three that spreads the investment out over time instead of placing it all at once, which is why the "Lump Sum" columns below exist — they show what the exact same total would have grown to if it had all gone in on day one instead. Lump-sum investing tends to win when prices trend upward over the period, while DCA usually comes out ahead during a decline or a choppy, sideways stretch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the number of contributions differ between assets?
If an asset's price history starts after your selected start date (e.g. Bitcoin before September 2014), contributions only begin once real data is available, so it ends up with fewer contributions than an asset like the S&P 500.
Does this account for dividends?
No. Every contribution here buys units at a raw closing price, so adding a reinvested-dividend estimate to just the S&P 500, Dow Jones, or NASDAQ (gold, silver, and Bitcoin don't pay one to add) would make those indices look artificially stronger in the DCA-vs-lump-sum comparison than they actually were.
Can I compare DCA against a lump sum for just one asset?
Yes — click an asset's chip above to leave just one selected, and its row will show both the DCA end value and the lump-sum equivalent side by side.
Can I share or embed a backtest I've built?
Yes — every input on this page (date range, contribution amount, day of month, currency, and asset selection) is encoded into the URL as you change it, so "Copy link" always hands off the exact backtest you're looking at, and "Embed" wraps that same URL in an iframe snippet for a blog post or article.