> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.olympex.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # DCA strategies > How DCA works: a strategy and the orders Olympex creates from it, units, the amount of each order, price bounds, the lifecycle, cancelling, and how the execution gas is paid. Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) spreads a purchase over time. A DCA strategy spends a total amount of one token in equal orders, one every `frequency` seconds, buying another token on the same chain. You create the strategy once with [`POST /dca-order/strategies`](/api-reference/dca/create-dca-strategy). Olympex creates the strategy's orders as it runs and executes each one from the maker's wallet, under the maker's pair signature and token allowance. ## Strategies and orders A strategy is the plan; its orders are the executions. | | Strategy | Order | | - | - | - | | Created by | You, with `POST /dca-order/strategies` | Olympex, as the strategy runs. There is no endpoint to create one. | | Describes | The tokens, the total amount, the number of orders, the frequency and the price bounds | One execution: its amount, status, transaction and result | | Statuses | `active`, `cancelled`, `finished` | `pending`, `executing`, `successful`, `cancelled`, `error`, `expired` | | Read with | [`GET /dca-order/strategies`](/api-reference/dca/list-dca-strategies), [`GET /dca-order/strategies/{id}`](/api-reference/dca/get-dca-strategy) | [`GET /dca-order/strategies/{id}/orders`](/api-reference/dca/list-dca-strategy-orders), [`GET /dca-order/orders/{id}`](/api-reference/dca/get-dca-order) | | Change with | [`PATCH /dca-order/strategies/{id}`](/api-reference/dca/update-dca-strategy): cancel it, or change its price bounds | Nothing: orders are read-only. Olympex creates and updates them. | ## Units | Field | Type and unit | Example | | - | - | - | | `totalAmount` | JSON number. Human-readable amount of `tokenAddressFrom` to spend across all orders. Not base units. | `100` is 100 USDC. | | `iterations` | Integer. The number of orders. | `10` | | `frequency` | Integer. Seconds between orders. | `86400` is one day. | | `slippage` | JSON number. Maximum slippage per order, in percent. Always send it: responses show `0` when it's missing. | `1` is 1%. | | `minPrice`, `maxPrice` | Optional JSON numbers. Units of `tokenAddressTo` per 1 `tokenAddressFrom`. | See [Price bounds](#price-bounds). | | `chainIdFrom`, `chainIdTo` | Numbers, and they must be equal: DCA runs on one chain. | `137` | | `pair` | `"/"`, with the tokens' real symbols. Take a symbol from [`GET /tokens`](/api-reference/tokens/list-tokens) trimmed and without a trailing `_`: `STRK_1` becomes `STRK`. It isn't returned in responses. | `"USDC/WETH"` | `accountTo` is the maker: the EOA that sells `tokenAddressFrom`, receives `tokenAddressTo` and signs the pair. Send it in EIP-55 checksummed form. `accountTo`, `tokenAddressFrom` and `tokenAddressTo` must be valid EVM addresses: `0x` and 40 hexadecimal digits, in lowercase or EIP-55 checksummed form. A mixed-case address with a wrong checksum returns `400 VALIDATION_ERROR` with `"Must be a valid EVM address"`. `status` is optional. Omit it and the strategy starts `active`. Send `"cancelled"` to create a stopped strategy, for example to test your integration without scheduling orders. Other fields in the schema are set by Olympex; don't send them. Unlike the rest of the API, DCA strategies take amounts, prices and slippage as JSON numbers, not strings. A string such as `"100"` fails validation with `400`. ## The amount of each order Each order spends `totalAmount / iterations` of `tokenAddressFrom`. A strategy with a `totalAmount` of `100` USDC, `10` iterations and a `frequency` of `86400` places 10 orders of 10 USDC each. Olympex places the orders one `frequency` apart. A new strategy starts as `active` immediately, unless you create it with `"status": "cancelled"`, and has no orders until its first order is scheduled. A strategy whose orders have all run has the status `finished`. ## Price bounds `minPrice` and `maxPrice` are optional, in units of `tokenAddressTo` per 1 `tokenAddressFrom`. Olympex executes an order only while the price is within the bounds you set. You can set both, one or neither. For a strategy that buys WETH with USDC, the bounds are in WETH per 1 USDC: a WETH price of 4,200 USDC is `1/4200`, about `0.000238`. You can change the bounds of a running strategy with `PATCH /dca-order/strategies/{id}`. You can't remove them: to run without bounds, cancel the strategy and create a new one. The bounds and an order's `executionPrice` use opposite orientations. The bounds are in the token bought per 1 token sold; `executionPrice` is in the token sold per 1 token bought. An order that spent 10 USDC and received 0.00238 WETH reports an `executionPrice` of `4201.68`, in USDC per WETH. ## Lifecycle **Strategy statuses:** | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | `active` | Running. New strategies start here. | | `cancelled` | Stopped by you, or created stopped. Cancelling can't be undone. | | `finished` | Every order ran. | | `pending` | Reserved for Olympex. | **Order statuses:** | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | `pending` | Scheduled. | | `executing` | In progress. It can't be stopped. | | `successful` | Executed. `transactionHash` is the execution transaction, `amountReceived` is the amount of the token bought, and `executionPrice` is the price it executed at. | | `cancelled` | Skipped. | | `error` | Failed. `errorMessage` says why. | | `expired` | Not executed in time. | Treat any status not in these tables as not final. ### Follow a strategy * [`GET /dca-order/strategies`](/api-reference/dca/list-dca-strategies) lists your strategies newest first, each with its `orders` array. Filter it with `?accountTo=` and `?status=`. Other query parameters, such as `chainId`, are ignored, so a misspelt filter returns every strategy. Send each parameter once: a repeated parameter returns an empty list. * [`GET /dca-order/strategies/{id}`](/api-reference/dca/get-dca-strategy) returns one strategy, without its orders. * [`GET /dca-order/strategies/{id}/orders`](/api-reference/dca/list-dca-strategy-orders) lists one strategy's orders, oldest first. * [`GET /dca-order/orders/{id}`](/api-reference/dca/get-dca-order) returns one order. The lists are unpaginated. They return only strategies created with your API key, and an ID from another API key returns `404 NOT_FOUND`. `accountTo` is stored as you sent it, and `?accountTo=` matches case-sensitively, so send the EIP-55 checksummed form everywhere. ## Cancel a strategy To stop a strategy and everything it has scheduled: Send `PATCH /dca-order/strategies/{id}` with `{"status":"cancelled"}`. It stops new orders, and it can't be undone. Cancelling doesn't reduce the maker's token allowance, and the orders Olympex already created are read-only: you can't cancel them through the API. Set the allowance to what the maker's other orders still need, or to `0`: see [Stop everything](/concepts/order-authorization#stop-everything-set-the-allowance-to-0). `PATCH` changes only a strategy's status and price bounds. To change anything else, such as the amount, the frequency or the tokens, cancel the strategy and create a new one. ## Creating a strategy is not safe to repeat Each successful `POST /dca-order/strategies` creates a new strategy, and Olympex ignores any `id` you send. If a create call times out, the strategy may still exist. Don't retry it blindly: list your strategies for the maker and look for one that matches your tokens, amounts and creation time before you send the call again. [Handle errors and retries](/guides/handle-errors-and-retries) covers the pattern. ## Funds and fees * **Nothing moves at creation.** The tokens stay in the maker's wallet, and nothing is reserved. The wallet must hold each order's amount, and the allowance must cover it, when the order runs. * **Each order** pulls its amount of `tokenAddressFrom` from `accountTo` through the Olympex order contract and swaps it for `tokenAddressTo`, which goes to `accountTo`. * **Gas is reimbursed out of the token bought.** Olympex pays the gas of each execution and takes it out of the token bought, so the maker needs no native token for the executions. * **So the allowance must cover `totalAmount`** of `tokenAddressFrom`, with no extra amount for gas. If the maker has other open orders or strategies that sell the same token on the same chain, approve the sum: see [One allowance per token and chain](/concepts/order-authorization#one-allowance-per-token-and-chain). [Gas and fees](/concepts/gas-and-fees#limit-orders-and-dca) compares the costs of swaps, limit orders and DCA. ## What can't be sold | Token or wallet | Why | What to do | | - | - | - | | Native tokens (`0xEeeeeEeeeEeEeeEeEeEeeEEEeeeeEeeeeeeeEEeE`, in any casing) | `tokenAddressFrom` must be an ERC-20. | Wrap first, and sell the wrapped token: WETH, WBNB or WPOL. [Token addresses](/concepts/supported-chains#token-addresses) lists their addresses. | | ERC-20 tokens whose `transfer` and `approve` don't return a boolean | The order contract can't move them. USDT on Ethereum isn't supported as the token you sell in limit orders or DCA on Ethereum. | Offer a different token on that chain. | | Fee-on-transfer tokens | The amount that arrives differs from the amount sent. | Don't offer them as the token you sell. | | Smart-contract wallets as the maker | Only 65-byte ECDSA signatures are accepted. | Use an EOA as `accountTo`. | | A token on another chain | DCA runs on one chain: `chainIdTo` must equal `chainIdFrom`. | Choose both tokens on the same chain. | Strategies run only on chains that have an [order contract](/concepts/order-authorization#the-order-contract) and that [`GET /chains`](/api-reference/chains/list-chains) returns. When you create a strategy, Olympex checks the types, the required fields and that each address is a valid EVM address. It doesn't check the rules on this page or the pair signature: a strategy that breaks one is created, and its orders can't execute. Check them before you send the request. ## What this means for your integration * Send `totalAmount`, `slippage` and the price bounds as JSON numbers, and expect each order to spend `totalAmount / iterations`. * Sign the pair once, and keep the allowance at what the maker's strategies and orders still need to spend. * To stop a strategy, cancel it, then lower the allowance. * Never retry a create call blindly: list your strategies and match first. ## Related The pair signature, the allowance and the order contract. The step-by-step guide. Every field of `POST /dca-order/strategies`. Sell at a target price instead. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.