When Bitcoin's price falls, a Bitcoin SIP keeps doing exactly what you set it to do: it buys the same rupee amount on schedule, which means each buy gets you more satoshis than it did when the price was higher. That is rupee-cost averaging, and it is the whole mechanism. What the plan cannot do is tell you whether you should continue. That depends on your money, not on the market.
So the honest answer to should I continue my SIP when the market falls is another question: did you size the plan so you never need to sell, or pause, under stress? If yes, a fall is what the plan was built for. If no, the fall is telling you something about the size of your plan. I will not tell you what to do with yours. I will tell you how the plan behaves, what I learned running an exchange through India's worst year for Bitcoin, and the questions I would ask myself before touching anything.
What your SBP does when prices fall
On Unocoin, a Bitcoin SIP is called a Systematic Buying Plan (SBP). It buys a fixed rupee amount daily, weekly or monthly, from ₹10, with a 0% SBP fee.
Because the rupee amount is fixed, the number of sats each buy gets you moves opposite to the price. Price down, more sats per buy. Price up, fewer. Over many buys, this pulls your average cost toward the middle of the range you bought through, rather than leaving it at whatever price you happened to pick on one day.
Notice what this does and does not mean. It means a falling price is not a malfunction of the plan. It does not mean the price will come back, or that buying through a fall will work out. The plan is a method for buying. It is not a prediction, and nobody can guarantee Bitcoin's price.
What it cannot decide for you
A plan runs on rules. A fall is when people abandon rules, so it helps to be clear about which decisions are yours alone.
- Whether you can afford the next buy. If your income changed, or an expense came up, that matters more than the price chart.
- Whether you will need this money soon. If you might need to sell in the next year or two, a deep fall can force you to sell at a loss.
- Whether the fall changes your understanding. If you started because of a story someone told you, and the fall makes you realise you do not know why you hold Bitcoin, that is worth sitting with.
- Tax consequences of selling. In India, Bitcoin losses cannot be set off against other income or carried forward. Selling during a fall does not give you a tax benefit.
2018: what a bad year looked like from inside
I co-founded Unocoin in 2013, so I have been through more than one fall. The year that taught me the most was 2018, and not because of the price.
The RBI had already put out a buyer-beware notice on virtual currencies right after we launched, and again a few years later. Then, on 6 April 2018, it went further. The RBI directed the banks and other entities it regulates not to deal in virtual currencies or serve anyone who did, and gave them three months to exit existing relationships. For an exchange, a bank account is oxygen. Prices were falling and the banking system was closing on the industry at the same time.
We had to lay off about a hundred people that year to survive. Many exchanges shut or left India. My co-founders decided to fight instead, and the case ended with the Supreme Court setting aside the RBI circular on 4 March 2020.
What did that year teach me that applies to your SIP? Two things. First, pressure makes bad decisions. If you never committed money you need, you never have to decide anything under pressure, and that alone protects you from most of the worst choices. Second, the worst moments do not announce themselves as temporary. In the middle of it, nobody knows how long a bad stretch lasts. If your plan only works when you are confident about the next six months, it is the wrong size.
Questions to ask yourself before pausing
Pausing is a legitimate choice. You can change or pause an SBP anytime. But ask yourself these before you do, ideally with a cup of tea and not with the price app open:
- When I started, what did I decide I would do if the price halved?
- Has anything changed in my income, expenses or plans, or only in the price?
- Is the amount I am putting in still one I could leave alone for years?
- If I pause, what will make me restart? A price level? A date? A change in my budget?
- Am I reacting to a headline, or to my own situation?
If the answers point to your budget, adjusting the plan is sensible. Lowering the amount is often a better fit than stopping, because it keeps the habit while respecting your situation. If the answers point only to fear about the price, that is useful information about how much risk you can actually hold.
See how past falls looked
The SBP Time Machine on IndiaBitcoin replays a plan against real daily BTC/INR closes since January 2016, from Yahoo Finance, cross-checked against CoinGecko. Pick a start month just before a big fall and watch how long the plan's value sits below the money put in. Then pick one just after.
It is a look backward, not a forecast. But it will show you the length and depth of past drawdowns better than any description, and that is the kind of stretch you need to be able to sit through.
What not to do in a fall
Some reactions to a falling price cost more than the fall itself. Selling to book a loss gives you no tax benefit in India, because VDA losses cannot be set off or carried forward. Borrowing to buy more turns a price problem into a debt problem. Following a stranger's tip in a group chat, or a call from someone posing as support, is how a bad week becomes a lost account. If you feel the urge to act fast, that is usually the signal to wait a day.
How to pause or change a plan
You manage your SBP in the Unocoin app. You can change the amount, change the frequency, or pause it. Pausing stops future buys; it does not sell anything you already hold. If you are going to leave the account untouched for a long time, check Unocoin's fee page: since March 2023, inactive trading accounts carry a custodial fee of 0.0001 BTC per month, inclusive of 18% GST.
For account questions, contact Unocoin support at support@unocoin.com or the toll-free 1800-103-2646. No genuine support team will ever ask for your OTP or password, and a market fall is exactly when scammers posing as support get busy.
And the context that never changes: crypto products are unregulated in India and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss. Size your plan for that, and a fall becomes something you watch rather than something that decides for you.
For how SIPs work and how they are taxed, see our Bitcoin SIP page and the note on why Bitcoin losses cannot be offset.
Common questions
Should I stop my Bitcoin SIP when the price falls?
That depends on your budget and time horizon, not the price. A fixed-rupee plan buys more sats when the price is lower. If you sized it so you never need to sell under stress, a fall is what it was built for. This is education, not advice.
Can I pause my SBP?
Yes. You can change or pause an SBP anytime from the Unocoin app.
Do I lose anything by pausing?
Pausing stops future buys and does not sell what you hold. If the account goes inactive for a long time, check Unocoin's inactive account custodial fee on its fee page.
Can I set off Bitcoin losses against tax?
No. In India, losses on virtual digital assets cannot be set off against other income or carried forward. Check with a CA.