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Staged buying history

Replay a fixed buying schedule over a past period on Kraken weekly closes, worst results first. History only, in your browser.

Education onlyHistory onlyRuns in your browser
History only. Past periods do not predict future ones.This tool replays prices that have already happened. It does not project, forecast or estimate any future value or return, and it is education, not investment advice. A different period can give a very different result.

What this tool does

It replays buying a fixed amount of bitcoin at a fixed interval over a past period, using weekly BTC/USD closes fetched from Kraken in your browser, or a price file you load. It shows the bad parts first: the deepest fall in the holding, the longest time below what was paid in, the worst calendar month, and whether a cash reserve kept separately would have covered the largest paper loss. The end value comes last. It then tries every other start date of the same length in your data and shows the worst one beside yours.

Price data

By default the tool fetches weekly BTC/USD closes from Kraken's public data, live in your browser, up to the last 720 weeks. Nothing is stored on this site or bundled with the page. A daily mode uses Kraken's daily closes, which cover only about the last two years. Each close is dated by the start of its week or day (UTC), and the last week or day is left out because it has not finished.

You can instead load your own file, for example a sterling price export from your own exchange or data provider account; check that provider's terms. If Kraken's data cannot be loaded, the tool says so and shows a made-up example series dated 2001 to 2003, before bitcoin existed, so it cannot be mistaken for real prices.

Tool: staged buying historyruns in your browser
1. Price data
Kraken prices are fetched live from Kraken in your browser each time; nothing is stored on this site.

Loading Kraken weekly closes. If JavaScript is off, the tool cannot run.

Used only to show months of runway.
Display only. Kraken closes are in US dollars; for your own file, use its currency.

The formulas

  1. Purchases. On the start date and then every week, month (same day of the month, or the last day of a shorter month) or quarter up to the end date, buy the amount at the first price on or after that date. With weekly data, that is the close of the first week dated on or after the planned date. Units bought = amount / price. No fees or spreads are included.
  2. Value. Each day, value = units held x that day's price. Paid in = the sum of amounts so far.
  3. Maximum drawdown of the holding. Keep a high-water mark: it rises to the value whenever the value is higher, and goes up by the amount of each purchase on the day it is made, so new money is not counted as a recovery. Drawdown = 1 minus value / high-water mark. The maximum is the largest drawdown in the period.
  4. Longest time below cost. The longest unbroken stretch in which value was below paid in. Each price stands for the time until the next one, so with weekly data each week below cost counts as 7 days.
  5. Worst month. For each calendar month, change = (value at the month end minus value at the previous month end minus money added in the month) / (value at the previous month end plus money added in the month). The lowest is shown.
  6. Reserve check. Largest paper loss = the largest gap of paid in minus value. The reserve covers it if the reserve is at least that amount. If you enter monthly costs, months of runway = reserve / monthly costs, compared with the longest time below cost (days / 30.4375).
  7. Worst start date. The same amount, interval and length of period, started on every day in the data that leaves room for the whole period (every seventh day for very long files). Worst means the deepest maximum drawdown; ties go to the longest time below cost.
  8. End value. Units held x the last price in the period.

The code is in stagedbuy.js, and nothing you load leaves your browser.

What it cannot do

A schedule is only one part of a policy. See scheduled bitcoin buying for companies, the sizing method for the cash reserve, the policy generator for the scheduled buying section and its pause conditions, and recession and rate risk. Keep holdings in a 2 of 3 multisig or with a regulated custodian.

Read next

Sources

Primary sources only. Each link was checked on 10 November 2026. Rules change, so confirm the current version with your adviser.

    Education, not advice.

    This is general information and education only. It is not financial, investment, tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin or any other asset. It does not take account of your circumstances or those of your company. You must obtain your own official professional advice to confirm this information is correct before acting on it.

    Rules change. This information is correct to our understanding at the last-reviewed date, but it may be incomplete or out of date, and official sources take precedence. Bitcoin is volatile. A company that buys it could lose some or all of the money it puts in.

    Using this site does not create an adviser or client relationship. IoT Financial is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is not registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment adviser. Read the full disclaimer.