DCA
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Dollar-cost averaging |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Business & Finance, Transportation & Travel |
DCA has two meanings. It stands for Dollar-cost averaging (stock market & investing) or Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (airport code).
Meanings of DCA at a glance
| # | DCA stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dollar-cost averaging | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
| 2 | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport | Transportation & Travel › Airport Code |
1. Dollar-cost averaging
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations · also used in technology
Strategy of investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, such as monthly, regardless of price, so more shares are bought when prices are low and fewer when they are high. Automatic 401(k) contributions are a common example.
Example: She uses DCA, putting $300 into an S&P 500 index fund on the first of every month.
DCA reduces the risk of investing a lump sum just before a decline and helps investors stay disciplined. Research by Vanguard has found that lump-sum investing beat DCA about two-thirds of the time, because markets tend to rise over time. In the UK the practice is often called pound-cost averaging.
2. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Transportation & Travel · Airport Code Abbreviations
Close-in airport for Washington, DC, located in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from the city, with a Metro station steps from the terminals. A federal perimeter rule limits most nonstop flights to 1,250 miles.
Example: DCA is ten minutes from Capitol Hill, so most members of Congress fly from there.
ICAO code KDCA. Opened in 1941 as Washington National Airport and renamed for President Reagan in 1998. Its airspace sits beside restricted zones over the National Mall, so pilots fly a tightly curving "River Visual" approach along the Potomac. In January 2025, a midair collision between an American Eagle regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near the airport killed 67 people, the deadliest US air crash since 2001.
Related abbreviations
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More airport code abbreviations
- CPT – Cape Town International Airport
- CUN – Cancún International Airport
- CVG – Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
- DAL – Dallas Love Field
- DEL – Indira Gandhi International Airport
- DEN – Denver International Airport
- DFW – Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
- DOH – Hamad International Airport