DCA TIME MACHINE

DCA Time Machine is a React simulator that lets you remonter le temps and compare Dollar-Cost Averaging against a Lump-Sum investment on Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana. It computes a sarcastic, shareable verdict, a comparison mode across up to three cryptos, an S&P 500 benchmark overlay, a volatility heatmap and a challenge mode with a localStorage score, all backed by live CoinGecko data with a local fallback.

PROJECT DETAILS

Objective

The goal was to make the DCA vs Lump-Sum debate tangible by letting anyone pick a start date, a monthly amount and a crypto, then instantly see what each strategy would be worth today — with a sarcastic, shareable verdict rather than a dry number, and without ever pretending to be investment advice.

Technologies used

The app is built with React 18 and Vite, entirely front-end with no backend. Recharts renders the valuation curves, the volatility heatmap and the S&P 500 benchmark overlay. Historical and live prices come from the CoinGecko API with a local JSON fallback so the simulator keeps working offline or when the API is rate-limited. Challenge mode scores persist in localStorage, and results can be exported as a shareable PNG receipt.

Challenges and solutions

The main challenge was keeping the simulation reliable without a backend: historical crypto prices had to be fetched, cached and gracefully degraded to a local fallback whenever CoinGecko was unavailable or rate-limited, while still supporting a three-way comparison mode and an S&P 500 overlay computed on the same timeline. Rendering an exportable PNG receipt client-side, matching the app's own visual identity, was solved by generating the export straight from the DOM rather than a separate template.