Ultimate Guide to Buying Bitcoin on River with Zero-Fee DCA

It's time to lock in. Bitcoin isn't getting any cheaper and your window to front-run the institutions and governments to bitcoin is getting smaller with every passing day, but we're still early.

In this guide, I will show you why and how I use river as a core a part in my bitcoin accumulation strategy. This is not a paid advertisement.

Bitcoin is volatile, but that's no reason to stay away from it. Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) is a tool we have to accumulate bitcoin without the stress that comes from working with volatile assets. When you DCA, you remove both the stress of trying to buy the bottoms and the stress induced by FOMO when price is rapidly shooting up. DCA allows us to stay focused on whats really important: Accumulating bitcoin at the best possible price.

There are many exchanges out there, and truthfully, I use both Coinbase and River as part of my bitcoin plan. To me, they are 2 different tools, each suited for their own tasks. I use Coinbase as my "general purpose" bitcoin platform, while I use River for my consistent DCA platform. This is because Coinbase has lower fees, generally speaking, but River has a zero-fee recurring buy feature. This means that for Recurring Buys, River only collects a fee during the first week. Every Recurring Buy order that is executed after this first week is subject to zero fees, allowing us to save money and accumulate more bitcoin in the long run.

In addition to that, Coinbase is a crypto casino, whereas River is more aligned with the Bitcoin mission. River posts a proof of reserves for transparency, and they also offer one free withdrawal per month so you can move your bitcoin from River to your own wallet without paying on chain fees. Lastly, when you have cash in River that is waiting to be deployed (waiting for the DCA to hit), the cash sits there and accumulates about ~3.8% in interest, paid out in bitcoin. This paired with the free withdrawal per month is the reason why I choose River to do my main accumulation. Like I said, this is not a paid advertisement, and my sentiment towards this company is subject to change. It's important not to be married to these platforms. They are tools, and we are always looking for sharpest tool in the shed.

Create an account with River by signing up on their website, or you can sign up using my referral link. Using my link allows us to both make some bitcoin at no extra cost to you.

When you you use my link to sign up, we both:
- Get $5 dollars in bitcoin when you buy $100 of bitcoin in total
- Get $15 dollars in bitcoin when you buy $1,000 of bitcoin in total
- Get $80 dollars in bitcoin when you buy $10,000 of bitcoin in total

Read more about their referral program here, and thanks for your support!

Once you are logged in to the dashboard, click the Add Cash button in the Cash section on the bottom right side. Since this is your first time, you'll need to add a payment method too. I like to link my bank account.

Once your bank account is linked, it's time to add funds. Click the Add Cash button again if you found yourself back in the home page. Then set the tab to Bank transfer, set the amount of cash you want to deposit, and select the source, and then click Preview. Take note of "Available to withdraw" field. Any bitcoin bought with cash from this deposit cannot be withdrawn from the platform until this amount of time passes-- up to 3 days in my case.

Now that you have cash ready for purchasing bitcoin, click Buy Bitcoin, then In the pop up, select Recurring Buy from the drop down menu. Once this is set, input the amount and then the purchase schedule. Select Preview Order when everything looks good.

In the Order Preview, make sure Pay with is set correctly. In my case, I want to pay with my Cash balance since I like to keep a little bit of cash in River for interest accrual. You can also pay directly with your bank account if you want to skip on collecting interest and the ongoing step of keeping cash funded.

After we've been DCA'ing for some time, we've accumulated some sats and it's time to withdraw. From the Home page, in the bitcoin section under the chart, select Send and paste in one of your bitcoin addresses. Then set the amount to send. I want to send the max.

If you don't have a bitcoin wallet yet, check my posts relating to Self Custody to get that fixed.

Next, you need to select the speed to send your withdrawal transaction at. Remember when I said we get 1 free withdrawal per month? Let's go ahead and use that by selecting the Free option in the Send Speed menu. Since this a free withdrawal, it might take some time as River is most likely batching our withdrawal with other "free" withdrawals so they can save money.

Finally, review the order and insert the verification code that was sent you. If everything looks good, press Send Bitcoin to complete the withdrawal request.

And that's all there is to it! You just created a Zero-Fee Recurring Buy on River as part of your DCA strategy. If you have any recommendations or things you'd like to see, feel free to email me at andrew@dprogram.me. I am always looking for constructive feedback. Thanks for reading.