Most people hear "dollar cost averaging" and picture a fixed amount invested on a fixed date. That is a sound habit. But when markets are falling, some investors ask a different question: what if the trigger for adding money was the market itself, not the calendar?
This is not about calling the bottom. Nobody can do that reliably. It is about deciding in advance, while you are calm, what you will do if an index fund falls by set amounts. A plan written before the drop is easier to follow than a decision made in the middle of one.