Perpetual DCA vs lump sum
Replay seven completed UTC days with the same total entry notional available from the start. Compare seven equal daily long entries with one initial purchase, including recorded funding.
Hypothetical unlevered notional cashflow replay. Long Binance USDT perpetuals only. Excludes fees, slippage, margin and liquidation mechanics, and execution-price differences. Recorded mark snapshots are the price-only baseline. Idle cash earns no interest; funding is never reinvested.
Replay settings
Seven completed UTC days0.01–1,000,000,000 USDT, up to two decimal places. The full budget is available at the start; DCA spends exactly one seventh at each of the first seven daily endpoints.
BTCUSDT · 2026-10-25 00:00:00 UTC → 2026-11-01 00:00:00 UTC. Final mark: 77,528.51 USDT. 7 of 7 days have complete funding and payment marks.
Same budget, different entry timing
7000.00 USDT each| Strategy | Final quantity (BTC) | Price-only PnL | Funding paid | Funding received | Net funding | Total PnL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seven daily entries | 0.0877505286 | -196.8322 | +6.7189 | 0.0000 | -6.7189 | -203.5510 |
| Initial lump sum | 0.0865835523 | -287.3061 | +11.2239 | 0.0000 | -11.2239 | -298.5300 |
All cash amounts are USDT. Paid and received columns show magnitudes; net funding is signed. Positive net funding is a receipt, negative is a cost.
- DCA − lump: entry timing (price-only PnL)
- +90.4739 USDT
- DCA − lump: net funding
- +4.5050 USDT
- DCA − lump: total PnL
- +94.9789 USDT
A positive difference favors DCA. Each daily slice is 1000.0000 USDT (display rounded; calculations use exact sevenths).
Seven daily entry and payment summaries
Expand each day to audit its payments2026-10-253 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-25 00:00:00 UTC at 80,846.76 USDT. Buy 0.0123690789 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0123690789 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -0.1569 USDT; lump sum -1.0983 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-25 08:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-25 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0060% · 8h | 80,635.40 | 0.0123690789 | 0.0865835523 | -0.0599 | -0.4193 |
| 2026-10-25 16:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-25 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0080% · 8h | 80,602.60 | 0.0123690789 | 0.0865835523 | -0.0800 | -0.5602 |
| 2026-10-26 00:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-26 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0017% · 8h | 80,114.40 | 0.0123690789 | 0.0865835523 | -0.0170 | -0.1188 |
2026-10-263 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-26 00:00:00 UTC at 80,114.40 USDT. Buy 0.0124821505 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0248512294 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -0.5567 USDT; lump sum -1.9397 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-26 08:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-26 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0079% · 8h | 80,002.00 | 0.0248512294 | 0.0865835523 | -0.1580 | -0.5503 |
| 2026-10-26 16:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-26 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 80,348.63 | 0.0248512294 | 0.0865835523 | -0.1997 | -0.6957 |
| 2026-10-27 00:00:00.001 UTC logical: 2026-10-27 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 80,116.00 | 0.0248512294 | 0.0865835523 | -0.1991 | -0.6937 |
2026-10-273 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-27 00:00:00 UTC at 80,116.00 USDT. Buy 0.0124819012 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0373331307 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -0.7218 USDT; lump sum -1.6740 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-27 08:00:00.001 UTC logical: 2026-10-27 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0087% · 8h | 79,771.71 | 0.0373331307 | 0.0865835523 | -0.2590 | -0.6006 |
| 2026-10-27 16:00:00.002 UTC logical: 2026-10-27 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 80,533.34 | 0.0373331307 | 0.0865835523 | -0.3007 | -0.6973 |
| 2026-10-28 00:00:00.001 UTC logical: 2026-10-28 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0054% · 8h | 80,845.40 | 0.0373331307 | 0.0865835523 | -0.1622 | -0.3761 |
2026-10-283 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-28 00:00:00 UTC at 80,845.40 USDT. Buy 0.0123692876 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0497024182 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -0.8886 USDT; lump sum -1.5480 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-28 08:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-28 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0079% · 8h | 81,050.10 | 0.0497024182 | 0.0865835523 | -0.3178 | -0.5537 |
| 2026-10-28 16:00:00.003 UTC logical: 2026-10-28 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0080% · 8h | 80,527.80 | 0.0497024182 | 0.0865835523 | -0.3196 | -0.5567 |
| 2026-10-29 00:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-29 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0062% · 8h | 81,308.80 | 0.0497024182 | 0.0865835523 | -0.2512 | -0.4376 |
2026-10-293 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-29 00:00:00 UTC at 81,308.80 USDT. Buy 0.0122987918 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0620012100 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -0.9444 USDT; lump sum -1.3188 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-29 08:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-29 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0053% · 8h | 79,845.60 | 0.0620012100 | 0.0865835523 | -0.2627 | -0.3668 |
| 2026-10-29 16:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-29 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 81,726.86 | 0.0620012100 | 0.0865835523 | -0.5067 | -0.7076 |
| 2026-10-30 00:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-30 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0036% · 8h | 77,989.74 | 0.0620012100 | 0.0865835523 | -0.1750 | -0.2444 |
2026-10-303 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-30 00:00:00 UTC at 77,989.74 USDT. Buy 0.0128221988 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0748234088 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -1.4109 USDT; lump sum -1.6327 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-30 08:00:00.001 UTC logical: 2026-10-30 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0043% · 8h | 78,108.13 | 0.0748234088 | 0.0865835523 | -0.2517 | -0.2912 |
| 2026-10-30 16:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-30 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 77,577.06 | 0.0748234088 | 0.0865835523 | -0.5805 | -0.6717 |
| 2026-10-31 00:00:00.002 UTC logical: 2026-10-31 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 77,356.75 | 0.0748234088 | 0.0865835523 | -0.5788 | -0.6698 |
2026-10-313 payments · 24.0/24h
Entry just after 2026-10-31 00:00:00 UTC at 77,356.75 USDT. Buy 0.0129271198 BTC; DCA quantity after purchase: 0.0877505286 BTC.
This day's net funding: DCA -2.0395 USDT; lump sum -2.0124 USDT. Payments belong to (day start, day end], before the next day's purchase.
| Raw / logical time (UTC) | Native rate · interval | Payment mark (USDT) | Funded DCA quantity | Funded lump quantity | DCA cash (USDT) | Lump cash (USDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-31 08:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-31 08:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 77,319.20 | 0.0877505286 | 0.0865835523 | -0.6785 | -0.6695 |
| 2026-10-31 16:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-10-31 16:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 77,577.00 | 0.0877505286 | 0.0865835523 | -0.6807 | -0.6717 |
| 2026-11-01 00:00:00 UTC logical: 2026-11-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0.0100% · 8h | 77,528.51 | 0.0877505286 | 0.0865835523 | -0.6803 | -0.6713 |
How the replay works
With total budget B, the lump sum buys B/P0 coins at the initial mark. DCA buys B/7/Pi at daily endpoint i = 0…6. Final price-only PnL = final quantity × final mark − B. Total PnL adds the signed funding cashflows.
Each payment cashflow = −native settled rate × recorded payment mark × held quantity. A positive rate costs the long; a negative rate pays it. Only purchases strictly earlier than the payment's logical timestamp count. Funding at the entry start is excluded and funding at the final endpoint is included.
The window ends at the latest UTC midnight at least 15 minutes old. Settlement stamps within one second of an hour are assigned to that hour; raw stamps remain in the ledger. Marks are recorded five-minute Binance snapshots matched at exact endpoint and logical payment times, with no quote substitution. Snapshot marks can differ from execution and exact exchange settlement prices. See funding-adjusted returns for the source methodology. This is a seven-day replay, not a forecast or a year-long backtest.