Setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: mechanics, amount, costs

Once set up, a savings plan buys bitcoin automatically – every week or every month, whatever is in the news. That takes many decisions off your hands; we’ll help you with the three that remain: interval, amount and costs.

How a Bitcoin savings plan works

With a savings planGlossarySavings plan (Bitcoin savings plan)Automatically buying bitcoin at fixed intervals with a fixed amount, for example $50 a month. A savings plan takes the question of the right moment off your hands, but doesn’t promise a higher return.On the learning path: Stage 3 · Step 4 – Savings plan or lump sum? →In the glossary →×, you set an amount, an interval and a payment source. On each date, the provider buys bitcoin for that amount at the price valid at that moment. You receive fractions of a bitcoin, measured in satoshisGlossarySatoshi (sats)The smallest unit of Bitcoin: 1 satoshi (‘sat’ for short) equals 0.00000001 BTC, so one bitcoin consists of 100 million sats. The unit is named after Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.On the learning path: Stage 1 · Step 4 – Sats & units →In the glossary →× (sats): 1 BTC is 100 million sats. At the current price of $85,533, you get around 1,169 sats per dollar; the sats converter works out other amounts.

We calculate in US dollars, the usual currency for the Bitcoin price; if your savings planTermSavings plan (Bitcoin savings plan)Automatically buying bitcoin at fixed intervals with a fixed amount, for example $50 a month.In the glossary →AdLicensed providers with a paid linkProviders from our comparison21bitcoinBitcoin app · MiCA (FMA, Austria)No paid link for your country · Profile →RelaiBitcoin app · MiCA (AMF, France)No paid link for your country · Profile →BISONExchange · MiCA (BaFin, Germany)No paid link for your country · Profile →All 11 compared – including non-partners →*Paid link: if you sign up or buy through it, we earn a commission. Your price stays the same. How we make money →18+ · Crypto assets are highly volatile; you could lose all your money. No deposit protection.× runs in euros, pounds or another currency, everything works the same way. Provider prices and tax rules are given in euros, because that’s how they are set.

Because the amount stays the same, you buy more sats when prices are low and fewer when they are high: $100 gets you 125,000 sats at $80,000 per BTC, but 200,000 sats at $50,000. Your average price is therefore below the average of the prices – here around $61,500 instead of $65,000. This is the cost-average effectGlossaryCost averaging (DCA)If you regularly invest a fixed amount, you buy more when prices are low and less when they are high. With fluctuating prices, your average cost ends up below the average price – but that doesn’t mean a higher return than investing straight away.On the learning path: Stage 3 · Step 4 – Savings plan or lump sum? →In the glossary →×.

Interval and purchase day

Weekly, fortnightly or monthly purchases are common, sometimes daily ones. Which interval or weekday would have been better only ever shows afterwards. Three practical points matter more:

• Income: a date shortly after payday makes sure the money is there.
• Fixed fee per purchase: then lots of small purchases get expensive. A fixed $1 is 4% of $25, but only 1% of $100. With percentage fees or savings plans at a 0% fee, the interval hardly matters.
• Minimum amount: if you save weekly, you split your budget into smaller purchases. Each one has to reach the provider’s minimum.

The amount

How much you save is up to you – we don’t recommend a sum. Three questions help:

1. Are your financial foundations in place? An emergency fund and no expensive debt come before any investment. See Financial foundations first.
2. Can you do without the money for many years? The Bitcoin price swings a lot (volatilityGlossaryVolatilityA measure of how strongly a price fluctuates, usually given as annualised standard deviation in per cent. Bitcoin fluctuates much more than a broad stock index or gold – up and down.On the learning path: Stage 3 · Step 3 – Returns & risk →In the glossary →×). Money you’ll need in two years doesn’t belong in the savings plan.
3. Would you keep saving after a crash? This is the most important question.

This is how a savings plan of $100 a month went, started in November 2021 shortly after the high at the time:

−46%

low point

June 2022, measured against the amount paid in

22 months

until permanently in profit

from September 2023

+85%

end of August 2026

on $5,800 paid in

Our own calculation with monthly closing prices in US dollars (each purchase at the monthly close), excluding fees and taxes.^[2]

So even a savings plan can lose almost half its value along the way. Anyone who kept saving bought more at low prices; anyone who sold locked in the loss. Past price movements are not a forecast. You can try other start months and amounts in the DCA calculator.

Costs: the lever you control

You can’t plan the price, but you can plan the costs. They apply to every purchase: at $100 a month over ten years, i.e. $12,000, a 1% fee costs $120, and 1.5% as much as $180.

This is how the models differ (as of September 2026; the providers state their prices in euros):

• 21bitcoinProvider · Bitcoin app21bitcoinBitcoin-only app from Austria: Auto-Invest savings plan from €10, 0% purchase fee from day 8.Licence: MiCA (FMA, Austria) · reviewed Sept 2026Costs: Instant buy 1.49%, selling 1.49%, Auto-Invest savings plan from day 8: 0% (as of Sept 2026)On the learning path: Stage 4 · Step 2 – Choosing a provider →Our profile →Official website ↗×: savings plan from €10; for the first seven days 0.99% according to the fees page, or the instant-buy fee of 1.49% according to the help centre; then 0% as long as the savings plan stays active.^[3],[4]
• RelaiProvider · Bitcoin appRelaiBitcoin-only app where your bitcoin land directly in your own wallet – with a savings plan and a MiCA licence.Licence: MiCA (AMF, France) · reviewed Sept 2026Costs: 1% service fee plus an unquantified margin in the price … (as of Sept 2026)On the learning path: Stage 4 · Step 2 – Choosing a provider →Our profile →Official website ↗×: from €50 per purchase, 1% service fee. With a monthly savings plan, one €100 purchase per calendar month carries a 0% service fee.^[5]
• KrakenProvider · ExchangeKrakenLarge crypto exchange with an EU licence from Ireland: simple in-app buying or an order book, withdrawals via Lightning too.Licence: MiCA (Central Bank of Ireland) · reviewed Sept 2026Costs: App 1% plus spread; Kraken Pro 0.40% maker / 0.80% taker (as of Sept 2026)On the learning path: Stage 4 · Step 2 – Choosing a provider →Our profile →AdVisit Kraken* (paid link, opens in a new window)on kraken.com*Paid link: if you sign up or buy through it, we earn a commission. Your price stays the same. How we make money →18+ · Crypto assets are highly volatile; you could lose all your money. No deposit protection.× (app): 1% for recurring purchases, plus a spread in the price.^[6]
• BISONProvider · ExchangeBISONCrypto app from the Boerse Stuttgart Group: no trading fee, but a spread – withdrawals to your own wallet: €0 fee (as of 09/2026).Licence: MiCA (BaFin, Germany) · reviewed Sept 2026Costs: no trading fee, average Bitcoin spread 1.25% per buy or sell (as of Sept 2026)On the learning path: Stage 4 · Step 2 – Choosing a provider →Our profile →Official website ↗×: no trading fee, but a spreadGlossarySpread (bid-ask spread)The difference between the buy and sell price. With many apps, the spread is the real fee – it just doesn’t appear as a separate item on your statement.On the learning path: Stage 4 · Step 2 – Choosing a provider →In the glossary →× of 1.25% on average for Bitcoin.^[7]

Check the spread too, i.e. the gap between your purchase price and the market price – especially when no fee is shown. Understanding fees explains how spread, fee and withdrawal add up.

Bundle your withdrawals

If you want to keep your bitcoin yourself, withdrawal costs are part of the picture. 21bitcoin charges a flat 1,000 sats per withdrawal.^[3] If you withdraw every $100 purchase separately (125,000 sats at the example price of $80,000), that’s 0.8% each time; with 500,000 sats collected, only 0.2%. The same applies if a provider passes on the network feeGlossaryTransaction fee (network fee)The amount a Bitcoin transaction pays to the miner. It depends on the transaction’s size in vbytes and the fee rate offered – not on the amount you send.On the learning path: Stage 5 · Step 4 – First withdrawal →In the glossary →×: it depends on the data size of the transaction and how busy the network is, not on the amount. So withdraw rarely and in bundles rather than after every purchase.

Compare the minimum amount, fee and spread before you start. Providers with a savings plan from our overview, each with costs and the date we checked them:

You’ll find more providers with savings plans, including ones without a partnership with us, in the provider overview.

Step by step: setting up your savings plan

The screens show the typical process in a fictional ‘Example exchange’. The labels vary by provider; the decisions are the same.

Tax, records, sticking with it

Every purchase has its own holding period. Under current German law, gains from selling privately held bitcoin are tax-free if more than one year passes between purchase and sale.^[8] With a savings plan, this holding periodGlossaryHolding period (speculation period)In Germany, the gain from selling privately held bitcoin is tax-free if more than one year passes between purchase and sale (§ 23 EStG, as of September 2026). Each purchase has its own holding period.On the learning path: Stage 6 · Step 3 – Bitcoin & tax →In the glossary →× runs separately for each purchase. If you sell part of your holdings, the bitcoin bought first are, if in doubt, treated as sold first, separately for each wallet (FIFOGlossaryFIFO (first in, first out)A tax ordering rule: in Germany, if you can’t prove which bitcoin you sold, the ones bought first count as sold first for the holding period – assessed per wallet.On the learning path: Stage 6 · Step 3 – Bitcoin & tax →In the glossary →×).^[9] The holding period calculator shows when each purchase becomes tax-free. If you live elsewhere, check your local rules – Bitcoin tax around Europe shows where to look.

Reform planned, not passed. A draft bill from the Federal Ministry of Finance would replace the tax-free holding period with a flat-rate withholding tax for crypto assets bought after 31 December 2026. It is not law (as of September 2026).^[10] The reform tracker follows the current state.

Keep your records. Download the statements or an annual export regularly. When you transfer bitcoin to your own wallet, note the date and amount. Details in Bitcoin & tax in Germany; this is not tax advice.

Set your rules in advance. Write down when you’ll pause – for example, if you’ve had to dip into your emergency fund – and when you won’t, such as ‘because the price is falling right now’. More in Psychology & discipline.

Your savings-plan check