DCA Strategy Fails ETH and ADA Buyers Over Four-Year Span
Putting $100 a month into Ethereum since 2022 handed investors a 12.5% loss, while Bitcoin and Solana stayed ahead.
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Key takeaways
- A monthly $100 ETH buy from Jan 2022 to Aug 2026 turned $5,600 into $4,898.
- Cardano investors also suffered losses using the same monthly accumulation strategy.
- Bitcoin, XRP, Solana, and Tron all outperformed Ethereum and Cardano over the same stretch.
Blindly buying the dip over the last four years didn't work out for everyone. If you funneled $100 into Ethereum every single month starting back in January 2022, you're actually sitting on a loss.
CryptoRank data tells the story: throwing $100 a month into ETH between January 2022 and August 2026 adds up to $5,600 out of pocket. Yet that stack withered to roughly $4,898—a 12.5% drop. Cardano buyers suffered a similarly frustrating hit across the exact same 56-month stretch.
Bitcoin, Solana, and Tron Outperform
Not every big crypto asset left DCA buyers in the red. Anyone running that exact same monthly buying routine with Bitcoin, XRP, Solana, and Tron actually beat out Ethereum and Cardano, walking away with positive returns.
It's a reality check. Time in the market doesn't automatically heal every asset.
Why it matters
Dollar-cost averaging gets praised everywhere as the safest way to build a position without stressing over tops and bottoms. But these numbers show token selection matters just as much as consistency. If you accumulate major altcoins, steady buying won't save you from a prolonged slump compared to Bitcoin or Solana.
Source: CryptoSlate
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Priya Nair
Priya covers the AI side of crypto — agent tokens, decentralised compute and where the two industries actually meet.
