At times when more and more human professions and activities are being automated, or robotized, it seems logical to delegate the whole or a part of such intellectually intense and time-consuming activity as cryptocurrency trading to the computer programs called bots. The primary purpose of such bots is to submit buy or sell orders on a cryptocurrency exchange while being connected to it through the application programming interface or API. Nowadays, bots are being actively used not only in crypto, but throughout all tradable markets like Forex, stocks, commodities, etc. These programs are especially useful in crypto trading since this market remains active around the clock all year long, offering non-stop price action and constant profit-making opportunities.
Traders, however, can't stay glued to the screen 24/7 because of the flaw inherent to every human - the need to sleep. One could theoretically try to have a trading marathon without any rest while consuming gallons of caffeinated beverages, but that experiment will surely have negative consequences for one's health and P&L because even a freshman medicine student would tell you that lack of proper sleep has a detrimental impact on cognitive functions and decision-making. But what if you do care about your physical and mental health but would still want to capture all those lucrative trading opportunities? That's when cryptocurrency trading bots come in very handy because, obviously, they never tire and don't have to sleep at all.
Apart from that, the speed of reaction and trade execution by the bots is incomparably faster than that of a human trader, which could sometimes play a decisive role in the fast-moving markets. Trading bots also take emotions like fear and greed out of the equation, leaving room only for calculated decisions based on statistical data. They don't possess the hunch that might serve well at times, but we all know that trading boils down to the assessment of probabilities and acting on the basis of that analysis. But more often than not, the emotionless program is more advantageous than the emotion-riddled mind, especially when it comes to nascent cryptocurrency traders. Needless to say, trading bots are capable of consuming and analyzing the volumes of information that would make the human brain melt.
We must point out right off the bat, though, that cryptocurrency trading bots aren't money-printing machines like many providers of such computer programs might advertise them. There are many pitfalls when it comes to trading cryptocurrencies with bots, of which we would also offer some insight in this article. But if you acquire a well-designed bot that utilizes a sophisticated, and most importantly, viable algorithm and use it in appropriate market conditions, your trading stats and P&L could get a significant boost.
Unfortunately, finding a top cryptocurrency trading bot that generates consistent profits is the task, the difficulty of which is similar to finding the needle in a haystack. There is a plethora of scammy projects in the crypto space that aggressively promote poorly designed bots that are capable (not really) of generating triple-digit profits in a short period of time.
But as you should already know, the promise of guaranteed quick, and massive returns, is the distinguishing characteristic of practically all crypto scams. We, as your devoted providers of useful crypto content, wouldn't want you to sift through the haystack unless it's your weird hobby or fall victim to scams. That's why we have carefully compiled a list of top cryptocurrency trading bots that will facilitate the automation of your trading process and help you get "fatter" gains while keeping losses to a bare minimum, given that the bot is properly set up and is being monitored on a regular basis.
The types of cryptocurrency trading bots
But before digging deep into the subject of the top trading bots for crypto, we would like to offer a crash course on the basics. First off, a trader needs to distinguish between different types of bots in order to choose the one that fits his style.
- Signal bots are operating on the basis of the so-called signal generator. Basically, these bots provide trading tips created by expert advisors, which is the term that represents a computer program that processes live data that flows to it from different sources, such as exchanges or even on-chain data platforms, and then produces a buy/sell signal for a particular crypto market. Many signal bots have the risk allocation feature, which means that the program first analyzes the signal, then assesses the amount of funds available in the trader's account, calculates the percentage of the deposit that can be put in a given trade, and then executes the trade mostly on its own accord. In all candor, this is our least favorite type of cryptocurrency trading bot because oftentimes, the signals that they provide turn out to be false, especially in volatile and rapidly changing market conditions. Besides, the sources from which these bots derive the data might be questionable. There are many examples when a signal-driven trading bot is "tweaked" to provide signals that lure the unsuspecting traders into different pump-and-dump schemes organized by the developers or people with whom they are in collusion.
- The next type of automated cryptocurrency trading algorithm is called the arbitrage bot. Arbitrage is the term that defines the trading style that utilizes the insignificant differences in the price of a given digital asset across different cryptocurrency exchanges. In simple terms, a trader, or in our case, a trading bot, obtains the coin on one platform, let's say, Binance, at a lower quoted price and promptly sells it on another exchange, for instance, Coinbase Pro, at a higher price. The arbitrage trading bot does the same thing - only it is capable of simultaneously scanning literally dozens of exchanges, a feat that can't be achieved even by the brightest of humans, and executing trades without hesitation and at the most opportune moment. However, the main drawback here lies not in the bot itself but in the fact that many mid-and low-tier exchanges often have insufficient liquidity required to fill all placed orders instantaneously; plus, withdrawal and trading fees could significantly reduce the potential profit.
- The third type involves trading bots that operate on the basis of pre-set rules and conditions, which are determined by the cryptocurrency trader. These could be the trend, momentum, mean-reversion trading bots, etc. The rules and conditions may vary from simple execution of buy/sell orders when the price hits certain targets to more complex automated trading like the one that is carried out on the basis of showings of different indicators, levels, and discrepancies between different trading pairs. Another advantage of these bots is that they provide means for backtesting a certain trading strategy by applying the strategy of trader's choosing to the history of price action in a given cryptocurrency pair.
3 Commas
We are not sure whether the name 3 Commas was inspired by the popular sitcom “Silicon Valley,” where one of the recurring characters, Russ Hanneman, had a tequila brand of the same name, but the name 3 Commas represent the number of these punctuation marks in a billion. But regardless of the origin of its name, 3 Commas is by far the best online platform that offers cryptocurrency trading bots. It was launched four years ago in Tallinn, Estonia, by a small team of three developers from Russia who built it for a tight group of traders who wanted to automate their strategies and eliminate the emotional factor. Presently, the platform has over 220,000 registered users, $22.5 billion in average monthly trading volume, and over 1.2 billion trades executed on the platform, definitely the numbers that command respect.
3 Commas offers probably the broadest range of cryptocurrency trading instruments among similar platforms, including the proprietary SmartTrade terminal that is also an aggregator for multiple exchange accounts and a signal marketplace where users subscribe to a signal provider and connect a trading bot which executes the trades that were placed on the basis of signals.
The platform offers a wide range of cryptocurrency trading bots, from the most simplistic one that executes buy/sell orders according to the predefined setting to more sophisticated programs line Dollar Cost Averaging Bot (DCA) that utilizes a popular strategy of the same name that requires the investment of an equal share of capital in certain time intervals, which is said to reduce the entry price The essence of this cryptocurrency trading bot is that it purchases small position on a chosen market, thus getting a better average price. There are four types of DCA bots on 3 Commas, namely simple, composite, short, and composite short bots.
The next automated trading tool available on 3 Commas is called the GRID bot, which is designed to help crypto traders profit from the price action within a certain range. The bot divides the designated range into several grids, hence the name. Then it places the corresponding limit orders on every grid to capitalize on every market move. A trader can either set the grid levels manually or let the bot do it on its own accord by utilizing the so-called AI Strategy.
The first two bots are suitable for nascent cryptocurrency traders who could only be dipping their toes in these waters. The third one, though, called Options bot, was designed for seasoned speculators since options trading itself is probably the most sophisticated financial instrument which isn’t easy to master. The bot is capable of utilizing both call and put option strategies where losses are limited to the premium with no ceiling for the profits. The Options bot is also capable of executing a more complicated strategy, such as buying and selling a straddle, which implies buying or selling both Put and Call options at the same expiration date and strike price.
There are other crypto trading bots available on 3 Commas: simple bot is the best for beginner traders as it runs only one trading pair without any complicated setups, while the Composite bot operates simultaneously throughout several markets; the Long Algorithm bot obtains the coins at certain price levels and sells them at the predetermined price targets. The Deal Close Signals bot trades on the basis of signals that come from various indicators on the TradingView platform. There is also a choice of copy bots that review the performance of other bots on 3 Commas and then mimic their settings.
3 Commas offers four types of accounts, all of which feature the aforementioned cryptocurrency trading bots: there is a free plan with one of each bot type; the Starter plan also provides for one of each trading bot; the Advanced plan offers unlimited DCA bots, one GRID and one Options bot; the Pro plan grants unlimited bots of all types.
Shrimpy
Shrimpy is a social trading platform that emerged in the crypto space in 2018 and promptly got a lot of traction from both traders and investors. The concept of this platform is both simple and efficient: it offers a plethora of useful trading tools at a very reasonable price, which was a prerequisite for Shrimpy’s soaring popularity. At first, the platform offered a lot of its trading instruments for free, but as time went by and the competition grew stronger, the platform switched to having three paid plans: the Starter for $19 a month that allows the automation of three portfolios per account and social trading feature; the Professional at $79 a month that automates 5 portfolios and connects to 10 exchanges; the Enterprise plan is the priciest of all - $299 a month with 10 portfolios and a dedicated server cluster. Shrimpy can be connected through API to virtually all reputable cryptocurrency exchanges: Binance, Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Huobi Global, and even Gemini.
Shrimpy is not your usual cryptocurrency trading bot platform since it’s tailored for long-term portfolio management instead of specializing in signals. This platform facilitates the automation of portfolio rebalancing, which is its main feat, as well as such strategies as dollar-cost averaging, and placement of stop losses.
Therefore, Shrimpy is not best-suited for day trading, but it’s one of the best platforms for cryptocurrency portfolio management and social trading. It doesn’t deal with the array of indicators available on other platforms; instead, it focuses on the tools that improve long-term trading strategies. For that reason, Shrimpy is probably the best cryptocurrency trading bot for beginner traders who are yet to grasp all the ins and outs of day or swing trading. Another interesting feature offered by Shrimpy is social portfolio management, through which you can delegate the portfolio management to a professional trader or even engage in copy trading.
CryptoHopper
Upon assessing all of its features, we can state in all honesty that Cryptohopper is one of the best cryptocurrency trading bots out there, probably at the level with 3 Commas, though it has several interesting features that its rival doesn’t. First off, Cryptohopper offers an exchange arbitrage, a useful tool that we described earlier in the article. But what’s great about this feature is that it allows you to carry out the exchange arbitrage without actually sending your funds to another platform. All you need to do is connect the platforms between which you would like to exercise this option through API and enable it through a very intuitive interface. Recently, the developers upgraded it to the so-called triangular arbitrage, so now traders can capitalize on price differences on multiple exchanges and between several cryptocurrency pairs. The improved algorithm allows conducting these operations at a greater speed in order to catch the lucrative opportunity even in volatile market conditions.
When it comes to automated trading with the use of bots, Cryptohopper has plenty of tools in store that will satisfy the needs of even the most fastidious cryptocurrency traders. It is capable of tracking virtually all markets that are available on the connected exchanges and execute multiple trades instantaneously. This bot can even conduct a rather efficient technical analysis across various markets at a short interval of up to 2 minutes.
Like most good cryptocurrency bots, Cryptohopper has a trailing stop loss feature that is very useful when trying to ride the uptrend and, as they say, let the winners run. This platform is also suitable for scapers whose aim is to profit even from the slightest market movement. The bot can scan up to 75 coins, which is impossible to do manually, and secure even the smallest profit of 0.8%. Besides, the Cryptohopper scalping bot works only with cryptocurrency pairs that have a positive daily change, so you can rest assured that it won’t get stuck in a crumbling market. The bot also performs very well in bear markets since it has the short selling option, which is unavailable on the majority of exchanges and rivaling platforms. And like any respectable crypto trading bot, Cryptohopper offers the dollar cost averaging option. What’s also great about this platform is that all of its operations are conducted in the cloud, so your PC’s or laptop’s performance won’t be affected even if you utilize several bots simultaneously.
Cryptohopper also offers a market making bot that provides means for trading on the spread by simply dragging and dropping the created order in the order book. Besides, the market making bot lets traders switch between different trading strategies on the fly in accordance with the ever-changing market conditions.
And like most crypto trading bots featured in this review, Cryptohopper has a mirror trading feature that lets the inexperienced traders mirror the trading strategies of the pros by acting on numerous signals, utilizing the so-called indicator cheat sheets designed by top experts, and even set up stop losses and use strategy templates provided by the best cryptocurrency traders in the business.
The platform offers four packages at an affordable price. There is a free plan called Pioneer that allows to simultaneously hold up to 20 positions on more than a dozen available exchanges. The Explorer plan has a free trial period and costs $19 a month. Here, you can have up to 80 positions in 15 markets and use one simulated trading bot. You would have to pay $49 a month for an Adventurer plan that has an arbitrage feature. The Hero package is the priciest of the four ($99 a month), but it provides for 500 positions, signals on all available markets, arbitrage and market making features, and comprehensive technical analysis with a two-minute interval.
TradeSanta
The next stop is a trading bot platform called TradeSanta. Despite having the seemingly simplistic design of its website, TradeSanta actually offers a range of sophisticated automated cryptocurrency trading tools that might not be easy to grasp to a beginner trader. According to the platform stats, it has over 112,000 active users and offers access to the whopping 1634 trading bots, which is more than any of its counterparts. Besides, TradeSanta has a well-designed mobile application suitable for both iOS and Android, which makes it easy to trade cryptocurrencies on the go.
The only major flaw of TradeSanta is that it’s connectable only to a handful of cryptocurrency exchanges, namely Binance, Binance.US, HitBTC, UPbit, Huobi Global, OKEX, and Coinbase Pro. However, that rather narrow choice would suffice the fledgling crypto traders and those who stick to one or two trading platforms.
The bots offered by TradeSanta utilize only two trading strategies: the grid and dollar cost averaging. Along with being able to go long, these bots can also execute short trades, which is very useful in falling markets. Each bot is set up in accordance with the long, short, or custom template. The long and short templates are based around signals provided by Bollinger Bands, which is a mighty useful indicator when used properly. In addition to that, TradeSanta uses trade filters and volume signals. This platform offers full transparency, meaning that a trader can monitor the bot’s performance in real-time with analytics and Telegram notifications.
Each bot is also capable of trading on the basis of the Martingale method, which is rather controversial and not recommended for beginner traders; it can also buy additional coins for a commission to promptly fill the order. The other indicators frequently used by TradeSanta are the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the moving average convergence divergence (MACD). It appears that TradeSanta doesn’t offer the trailing stop loss feature, so you would have to manage stop losses manually. Lastly, if you are eager to enter a hot crypto market immediately without having to wait for a limit order to get filled, the bot can execute the first order at a market price.
TradeSanta used to offer a free plan with up to 2 bots for an unlimited number of trading pairs, but it’s no longer available. Right now, there are three packages that come with a 3-day free trial. The Basic package is sold for $14 a month - it includes up to 49 bots, which is more than the rivals have to offer, the unlimited trading volume in all available pairs, and access to all strategies. The Advanced plan that can be bought for $20 a month comes with 99 bots and a trailing take profit feature, as well as TradingView signals for three major exchanges. The most expensive plan is called Maximum. Here, a trader will be granted an unlimited number of bots and access to new and improved statistics. The plan can be purchased for $30 a month, which is affordable even for a trader with small capital.
GunBot
Gunbot is also known in the community of cryptocurrency traders as “Gunthy.” It’s a very efficient and versatile crypto trading bot that is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, and even Raspberry Pi, so traders won’t have any problem running it on any computer. Unlike other bots in our selection, Gunbot doesn’t rely on a cloud service, which is beneficial for the platform’s overall security. It supports over 100 exchanges, and the company behind it has officially partnered with Binance, Kraken Futures, Kucoin, OKEX, FTX, and Bybit, which comes to show that there is no shady business going on here. After the v23 upgrade, Gunbot became applicable not only to the spot but also to the futures markets on selected exchanges.
Gunbot uses a plethora of different trading strategies that are provided as templates, or a custom strategy can be created by a trader on his own accord. The pre-set strategies include such complicated ones as step-gain, EMA spread, futures grid, support/resistance, and ping-pong - over 20 buy and sell methods packed in one program. But the main strategies that can be used with Gunbot involve trend following, trend reversals, trailing stop loss strategies, and techniques that use various indicators like Bollinger Bands, MACD, and RSI. All methods are fully configurable to suit all trading styles. They are also programmable, which means that a competent coder in Javascript can create unique strategies that will be flawlessly executed by an available bot. All those strategies can be backtested via a special add-on from TradingView, so a trader would know whether his method is viable before devoting the actual capital.
This program can also be used as an exit manager, which means that a trader can execute buy orders manually and then let the bot manage the trade until it hits the predetermined price target through the “stepgain” method or by selling the coins above a minimum acceptable gain level.
Gunbot also allows traders to lighten up those bags acquired as the result of bad entries by utilizing the reversal trading strategy, which implies that the bot is given a task to accumulate coins at times when their prices experience a sizable drop, but without devoting more capital than before the drop occurred. It means that the bot sells the assets after a bad entry at a certain loss and then buys back more coins if the price continues to slide down until the market starts to reverse. Gunbot keeps track of all orders executed after the initial purchase and then initiates the pre-set sell strategy once the price hits the break-even level. These bots are also capable of executing orders on the basis of alerts that arrive from the TradingView platform that usually include indicator signals, such as MA crossing or MACD reversals.
The Gunbot plan structure is the feat that actually sets this platform apart from the rest of the competitors. Unlike other cryptocurrency trading bots included in this review, Gunbot doesn’t offer a monthly subscription. Instead, the user would have to pay a fixed sum in BTC for a one-time license, which is a rather weird approach, to be frank, since most traders are used to bite-size monthly payments. Anyway, Gunbot offers four subscription packages: the Starter would cost you 0.0055 BTC, for which you will get a basic bot with a minimum number of strategy options. The Standard plan is priced at 0.01375 BTC and allows for a connection to one crypto exchange, several bots, and all available trading strategies. For the Gunbot Pro, you would have to pay 0.02 BTC, but you will be able to trade simultaneously on 3 exchanges and be able to use the backtesting add-on. The Ultimate package will send you back 0.034 BTC; in return, you will get the maximum number of API slots, an access to spot and futures trading on an unlimited number of markets, 1250 Gunthy tokens, and full access to the backtesting feature.
Conclusion
In this cryptocurrency trading bot review, we offered a comprehensive analysis of the best tools for automated trading that are currently available on the market. Not all of them would suit your trading style, but rest assured that they are way more efficient and profitable than their widely advertised counterparts.
The inexperienced traders should opt for such bots as Shrimpy and Cryptohopper, while seasoned market speculators would be more comfortable working with 3 Commas and Gunbot. In any case, all of these carefully designed programs will help you make money in your sleep, given that you pick the right trading strategy and configure it in accordance with the current market conditions.
Manual cryptocurrency trading is great when you are working with a handful of markets, but if your goal is to seize every profit-making opportunity, the bots would definitely be of tremendous help.
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