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The Buy the Dip App: Dry Powder Ladders for SPY, QQQ and IBIT
Keep a separate pile of cash (dry powder) and scale into an ETF as it falls from its high: small buys on the first dips, the largest at the depth where most bear markets have stopped, and nothing between levels. Pick a ticker to open its live ladder.
What is buying the dip?
Buying the dip means adding to a position after its price falls. Done all at once, it is a guess about where the bottom is. The dry powder trade spreads the buys over ten preset levels below the last high, so you buy more the further it falls and still have cash left if it keeps going.
The three ladders side by side
| Rung | Share of cash | SPY | QQQ | IBIT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5% | −5% | −5.5% | −7.5% |
| 2 | 7.5% | −10% | −11% | −15% |
| 3 | 10% | −15% | −16.5% | −22.5% |
| 4 | 12.5% | −20% | −22% | −30% |
| 5 | 15% | −25% | −27.5% | −37.5% |
| 6 | 15% | −30% | −33% | −45% |
| 7 | 10% | −35% | −38.5% | −52.5% |
| 8 | 10% | −40% | −44% | −60% |
| 9 | 7.5% | −45% | −49.5% | −67.5% |
| 10 | 7.5% | −50% | −55% | −75% |
Drop from the anchor high at each rung. The sizes are the original Dry Powder Trade app’s and are the same for all three.
How the levels were set
The original SPY app buys every 5% down to −50%, with its heaviest buys at −25% and −30%. That matches the S&P 500’s record since 1945: a median bear of −31.6%, and only one bear deeper than −50%. For QQQ and IBIT we applied the same rule to their own history: the bottom rung is the second-deepest bear (the level only one bear went past), rounded to the nearest 5%, and the ten rungs are equal steps down to it. Each ticker page lists every bear market used, with dates, depths and recovery times, from Yahoo Finance daily closes.
FAQ
What is the Buy the Dip App?
A free calculator for the dry powder trade: keep a separate pile of cash and buy an ETF in ten steps as it falls from its high. Pick SPY, QQQ or IBIT and it gives you each limit price, the dollars and shares for each rung, and whether anything is due now.
What is dry powder?
Dry powder is cash kept ready to invest when prices fall. In each Buy the Dip calculator, Step 1 is entering the cash you have set aside only for that plan, money you won’t need for bills or other trades. The ladder splits it across ten buy levels.
Why does each ticker have a different ladder?
Each ETF falls by different amounts in a bear market. The bottom rung is set at the second-deepest bear in that ticker’s own history, rounded to the nearest 5%: −50% for SPY (S&P 500 since 1945), −55% for QQQ (since 1999) and −75% for IBIT (bitcoin since 2014).
Is buying the dip a good strategy?
It depends on the drop. Buying in steps has worked well when markets recovered, and it can tie up cash for years when they don’t, as QQQ did after 2000. This site is education, not advice; the risks section on each page lists what can go wrong.
Do I need an account?
No. Everything runs in your browser, and your fills and notes are saved only on your device.
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