<center>https://steemimg.com/images/2016/08/25/DCA6667c.jpg</center>

I joined Steemit one month ago, when STEEM was trading at about $4. I invested US$1000 of my own cash to power up before posting my first article. Since then, I’ve banked an additional $2770 SBD into my wallet and powered up all of it. 

I’ve bought into the long-term vision of Steemit, and I’m happy to speculate by investing both my time and even some money I can afford to lose. But one of the questions I’ve been wrestling with is, “When should I power up?”

As STEEM began decreasing in value, I decided to hold off on powering up because I wanted to time my purchase to maximize the amount of STEEM I received for my SBD. But then I realized I didn’t come here to be a STEEM trader, but rather a long-term buy-and-hold investor in the platform and future value of STEEM. So I decided to stop trying to time the market, and instead began dollar-cost averaging in.

# What is Dollar-Cost Averaging?

[Investopedia](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dollarcostaveraging.asp), defines dollar-cost averaging as…
> an investment technique of buying a fixed dollar amount of a particular investment on a regular schedule, regardless of the share price.  

In other words, you ignore the price fluctuations of the asset and keep buying at regular intervals without trying to time the market. You end up buying more shares when the price is low and fewer shares when the price is high. Your cost basis ends up being the average purchase price of the asset over time.

This way, you don’t need to worry about trying to determine when to get in or out of the market. You just stick to your strategy.

Here’s an example using two trades from my power-up history:

- 2016-07-25 11:17:36 (UTC), vest 374.215 STEEM @ US$3.5829

- 2016-08-19 20:33:21 (UTC), vest 254.007 STEEM @ US$1.5889

On July 25th, I paid 1,340.77 SBD for 374.215 STEEM. Then on August 19th, I paid 403.59 SBD for 254.007 STEEM. The average of those two trades gives me a cost basis of US$2.7767. 

Sure, if I had a crystal ball, I would have preferred to wait three weeks and buy more for less. But none of us can see into the future. I didn’t know if the price would go down or up in the short-term. I didn’t care either. My concern is what STEEM will be worth in two to three years, not weeks. 

As I continue powering up, now that the price of STEEM is lower, my cost basis will fall. I will also be maximizing my curation rewards, as I will have little sitting in SBD. 

STEEM is likely to be a highly volatile asset in the coming months. The price will be in a continual state of flux. Unless you have experience as a technical trading analyst and a desire to try to time the market, perhaps you would be better off dollar-cost averaging in, and powering up a little each week. This can help you smooth the risks that can come with trying to trade in and out of an asset that is fluctuating in price.  

### What’s your power-up strategy?

## @jasonstaggers
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[image credit](https://pixabay.com/en/analysis-statistics-chart-graphic-810025/)