Pros don’t “ape the dip” on gut feel; they predefine their allocation, let rules-based systems do the buying and use DCA-style flows as part of a disciplined, data-driven execution plan.
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“Buy every dip.” That’s the advice from Strike CEO Jack Mallers. According to Mallers, with quantitative tightening over and rate cuts and stimulus on the horizon, the great print is coming. The US can’t afford falling asset prices, he argues, which translates into a giant wall of liquidity ready to muscle in and prop prices up.
While retail has latched onto terms like “buy the dip” and “” (DCA) for buying at market lows or making regular purchases, these are really concepts borrowed from the pros like Samar Sen, the senior vice president and head of APAC at Talos, an institutional digital asset trading platform.
He says that institutional traders have used these terms for decades to manage their entry points into the market and build exposure gradually, while avoiding emotional decision-making in volatile markets.
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How institutions buy the dip
Treasury companies like and have become poster children for institutions buying the dip and dollar-cost averaging (DCA) at scale, steadfastly vacuuming up coins every chance they get.
Strategy stacked another 130 Bitcoin () on Monday, while the insatiable Tom Lee scooped up $150 million of Ether () on Thursday, prompting Arkham to , “Tom Lee is DCAing ETH.”
But while it may look like the smart money is glued to the screen reacting to every market downturn, the reality is quite different.
Institutions don’t use the retail vocabulary, Samar explains, but the underlying ideas of disciplined accumulation, opportunistic rebalancing and staying insulated from short-term noise are very much present in how they engage with assets like Bitcoin.
The core difference, he points out, is in how they execute those ideas. While retail investors are prone to react to headlines and price charts, institutional desks rely on “structured, rules-based and quant systematic frameworks.”
Asset managers or hedge funds use a combination of macroeconomic indicators, momentum triggers and technical signals to express a long-term view and “identify attractive entry levels.” He says:
“A digital asset treasury (DAT) desk may reference cross-venue liquidity data, volatility bands, candlestick patterns, and intraday dislocation signals to judge whether weakness is a genuine mean-reversion opportunity. These are the institutional equivalents of “buying the dip,” but grounded in quantitative statistical truths rather than impulse.”
And while retail DCA suggests buying the same dollar amount on a fixed schedule, institutions approach the same gradual exposure with “execution science.” Periodic market orders are replaced by algorithmic strategies to minimize market impact and avoid signaling intent.
In each case, their strategies are always shaped by mandates around risk, liquidity, expectation of market impact and portfolio construction (rather than posting memes of scooping up digs or trading on momentum).
Related:
What really happens when Bitcoin drops 10%–20%?
Despite it looking like they’re reacting to the market in real-time, the reality is far more measured. Samar explains that quant-driven funds rely on statistical models that can discern when a sharp price move indicates a “temporary dislocation” rather than a real reversal.
So while retail traders may react to calls to buy the dip, institutional responses to market slumps are structured, driven by signals, and “governed by pre-defined processes.”
And if a retail investor wanted to mirror institutional best practice around DCA and dip buying, what should they copy?
According to Samar, the most important thing is to define your exposure upfront, before the markets hit the skids. He points out that institutions don’t wait for volatility to decide what they want to own. They have to define their target allocations and the cost bases they’re aiming for before the market moves to prevent them from reacting emotionally to headlines.
The second principle, Samar says, is to separate the investment decision from the execution decision. “A portfolio manager may determine it’s time to build exposure, but the actual trading is handled systematically, via execution strategies that spread orders over time, seek liquidity across venues and aim to keep market impact low.”
Even at the retail level, the idea is the same: Decide what you want to own first, then think carefully about how to get there.
Finally, analyze your moves post-trade. Institutions ask whether the execution matched the plan, where slippage occurred, and what can be improved next time. So if you want to stack sats like a pro:
“Set your rules early, execute calmly, and evaluate honestly — you will already be operating much closer to institutional best practice than most.”
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
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