Alex Carchidi, The Motley Fool

Tue, Jun 17, 2025, 5:57 PM5 min read

• Investing in cryptocurrency is not for the faint of heart.

• There are a handful of approaches you can use to make it less scary.

• All-in on crypto is not the way to go.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

Cryptocurrencies' price charts look like a cardiogram after a triple espresso. Bitcoin is up more than 1,060% in the last five years, but it has experienced multiple drawdowns in excess of 80% in its lifetime so far.

It's little wonder that 63% of U.S. adults say they have little to no confidence in crypto's safety or reliability as an investment, per a survey by Pew Research. However, a 2025 Motley Fool research report found that 1 in 5 of the American adults it surveyed held cryptocurrencies, and 42% of those surveyed claimed they would buy crypto in the next year.

The good news is that you do not need steel nerves or uncanny luck to invest in cryptocurrency. Three straightforward habits can turn cryptocurrency investments from sleep thieves to profitable (if exciting) investments. Here's what to do.

Volatility in cryptocurrencies is the dragon most investors fear, yet there's a relatively easy move that can turn it from a terror-inducing roller-coaster ride with your portfolio in the balance into a neutral fact of life that you can work around like it's the weather.

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) means buying a fixed dollar amount on a set schedule. When prices fall, you pick up more units; when they soar, you grab fewer. Using a DCA strategy can meaningfully reduce your maximum drawdowns compared with lump-sum buys. It also might reduce your returns a little bit under certain circumstances, but don't fret about that at all.

It's a lot better than accidentally buying a coin at the very top of its price range, only to see your investment immediately go deeply underwater for months or longer. It takes the pressure off because it automates your decision-making, taking emotion out of the loop and preventing anxiety in the process.

A weekly auto-purchase through a brokerage or an exchange-traded fund (ETF) converts the uncertainty into disciplined accumulation without mental gymnastics. Tie the buy to your payday and let the software do the heavy lifting.

After you automate when and how much to invest, the next step is to tighten up the assets you're investing in.

There are many terrible investments in cryptocurrency. They will lose all of the money you invest -- in many cases, literally 100% of it. There is no need to go out on a limb and invest in small altcoins or meme coins in hopes of generating 10 times or 100 times your money. Those are traps that can literally destroy your portfolio's value.