Crypto Trading Bots - The Definitive Guide For 2021

Introduction

As technology in the 21st century has developed at a rapid pace, not seen since the industrial revolution, we have begun to see major changes in the way that individuals trade and how people view currency in general. Even with cryptocurrencies themselves, in 2010, they weren’t very prevalent and they had a very limited scale for trading. Since then, cryptocurrencies have exploded in popularity and more people are trading them than ever.

As a result, both individuals and companies have sought to develop ways in which they can make trading easier for newcomers and people who may not have the time to constantly monitor their holdings all day. This has led to the birth of a number of automated trading platforms that help to make the trading experience easier for users. For example, eToro’s latest advertising campaign was centered around the fact that its users could copy the trades of successful users to streamline the trading process. This is an example of automated trading.

In this guide, we will be exploring the concept of automated trading and its applications in the cryptocurrency sphere, as well as the best-automated trading platforms for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

What Is Automated Trading?

Automated trading systems also go by a number of different names within the world of trading, including, mechanical trading systems, algorithmic trading systems, and system trading. What automated trading systems allow traders to do is create a playbook with relation to the entry and exit of trades for the user. As soon as the system has been established, a computer would be able to automatically run trading activities for the user.

Interestingly, on the US Stock Exchange, a large number of trades are executed by automated trading platforms, with 75% of trades being executed in this manner. As previously mentioned, automated trading platforms can be really effective for users who may not have the time to constantly analyze the market, however, they can also be incredibly useful for removing emotive responses to certain trades as the computer will complete buy or sell orders once the pre-programmed conditions for the trade have been achieved.

These automated trading platforms can vary in complexity, they can either be based on incredibly simple metrics such as crossover or, it can be composed of a large number of different metrics that would require the knowledge of a programmer to implement the trading system and to understand how to use it. 

What Are Cryptocurrency Trading Bots?

As previously stated, automated trading platforms have existed for some time, however, they are now also gaining significant traction in the cryptocurrency community. One of the main reasons for this is due to the well-known and publicized volatility and risks that can be found in the cryptocurrency markets. For example, a trader could go to sleep with their holdings being valued very highly and when they awake from their slumber, they could find that their holdings have de-valued significantly.

Cryptocurrency trading bots can work around the clock and make sure that the trader is constantly in control of the state of their holdings. Furthermore, a cryptocurrency trading bot is able to make trades much more quickly and efficiently than a trader would be able to. 

The large increase in the popularity of cryptocurrencies has allowed for the rapid increase in the number of cryptocurrency trading bots that are available on the market. Some of these bots are free and open-source, whilst others are purchased by users from specialized firms in exchange for fees.

How Do They Work?

Cryptocurrency trading bots are a type of software program that ties itself into financial exchanges and normally, these bots will make use of APIs to make sure that they can digest and process the relevant information in a useful manner. Then, by making use of the information that has been gathered, these bots will generate both buy and sell orders for the user based on the interpretation of the gathered information.

The cryptocurrency trading bots will make decisions for the user based on information such as price movements within the market, generating a reaction based upon a pre-defined set of criteria. Generally speaking, these bots will look at items such as market volume, current orders, prices and the time, although they can be further configured to be more complex. 

Usually, traditional trading bots are incredibly expensive and are not readily accessible to the average trader. For example, one of Bloomberg’s own terminals would cost $24,000 per year. However, as usual, the cryptocurrency market is looking to buck major financial trends, with cryptocurrency exchanges giving their users direct access to their market and their exchange order book, which makes the process of using a trading bot much easier and more cost-effective.

Automated Trading Bots of 2020

Cryptohopper

Cryptohopper is one of the most well-known and popular cryptocurrency trading bots on the market at this moment in time. The bot helps users to simplify the process of trading cryptocurrencies and also assist users of all ability levels to increase their profit margins and minimize their losses.

According to the company itself, Cryptohopper was originally founded by two brothers, once possessing skill as a trader and another as a web-developer. The domain name for the company was registered in 2017 and the company behind the bot itself is named CryptoHopper BV and is based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. On their website, it shows that the company is seeking to take errors created by human emotion out of the trading process. There are also rumours that they will add market-making and exchange arbitrage in the future. 

One of the best things about Cryptohopper is the fact that it is incredibly beginner-friendly when compared to some other options on the market. For example, the company has created the Hopper Academy, which is essentially a video library that helps educate users on the platform. There are also specific Discord and Telegram groups, which can be utilized by new users to converse with more experienced users. The entire user-interface was designed to be easy to navigate and programming knowledge is not required to use it, it is definitely a great option for newer traders.

Cryptohopper is supported on a number of popular cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, Bitfinex, Coinbase Pro, Cryptopia, Huobi, Kraken, Kucoin, and Poloniex.

With regard to the https://www.cryptohopper.com/pricing, there is a premium subscription model that is used. You can enter yourself for a seven-day free trial so that you can educate yourself with the platform before you buy. 

3Commas

3Commas is an in-depth, platform that is specifically built to trade cryptocurrencies. Users of the platform are given access to the 3Commas cryptocurrency trading bot. The service currently has a total of over 33,000 users and the total trade volume that is handled each day regularly exceeds $10 Million. 

Some of the good features that come from 3Commas’ trading platform are that traders can actually automatically copy the trades of successful traders so that newer users or users that do not have much time in their day can trade successfully. Furthermore, their cryptocurrency trading bots can work around the clock, with users being able to set stop loss and take profit targets, as well as giving users the option to use either a “short bot”, “simple bot”, “composite bot” or, a “composite short bot”. These bots can help with a variety of trading strategies, including shorting and longing.

Also, the platform has a 24/7 dedicated support team that can be contacted through the platform’s help center, their Twitter, Telegram and Facebook groups are also avenues where the support team can be contacted. The user interface for the platform is fairly intuitive and makes it easy for newer traders to hit the ground running when using their services.

3Commas supports integration with a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bittrex, Bitfinex, Binance, Bitstamp, Kucoin, Poloniex, HitBTC, CEX.io, Coinbase Pro, OKex, Huobi, Yobit, and GDAX.

3Commas does also offer users a free trial so that they can explore the platform and see if it is the correct option for them before purchasing. After this, there is an array of paid packages with varying levels of functionality. You can also use their subscription plans comparison to pick the package that suits you best.

NapBots

NapBots.com is a cloud-based AI-powered platform that democratizes trading strategies that have been reserved for hedge funds. They offer algorithmic crypto and bitcoin trading bots compatibles with major exchanges such as Binance, Bitmex, Kraken, Bitfinex, Okex, Bitpanda Pro, Bitstamp, among others. 

NapBots is part of Napoleon Group, a French entity with 3 regulated and licensed operational units. It has been founded by former multi-billion asset managers at Tier 1 banks. They have designed, created and run high-performance trading bots for the past 15 years.  

This bot has an easy-to-use interface, which users love because it encourages the start for newcomers. Never have been so easy to trade like a pro, you'll be able to get ready-to-trade crypto bots in just three easy steps.

• Step 1: Connect to your favourite exchange.
• Step 2: Select the strategies from their proprietary library.
• Step 3: Relax and let the bot do the hard work

This is the only bitcoin bot on the market that allows you to mix a combination of strategies. You will pilot and adjust the allocation of your strategy in complete independence from your mobile phone.

Their oldest BTC LO strategy is alive since 2017 and now has reached new ATH proving the performance of this bitcoin robot. NapBots has demonstrated its success. In comparison, the flagship strategy BTC/ ETH/USD AR was released in 2018 and has delivered +200% performance over the last 12 months period.

Lately, they have designed hourly strategies for high-frequency trading, which are promising. They amazingly responded to the latest market crash. This new generation trading bot is worth a try for both experienced and novice crypto traders.

NapBots has a simulator mode and offer prices depending on the amount you want to trade.

Trailty

Trality is an Austrian fintech which brings the power and potential of algorithmic trading to everyone who needs it. They do this by providing powerful, intuitive and flexible tools to easily test and deploy their bots in its cloud-based ecosystem.

Its two core products are the Code Editor for Python programmers and a more lightweight and user-friendly Rule Builder for newer users who are just getting started with automating their strategies.

With the browser-based Python Code Editor, Trality’s power users can easily develop advanced bots right there in the browser window. By making use of access to libraries like numpy, pandas and other popular options, developers can create and backtest a number of bots quickly and easily.

The Rule Builder is another one of Trality’s tools for non-coders and created with simplicity in mind. It is intended for those who want to build an automated trading robot in the simplest way possible, without having to write code. Through simply dragging and dropping indicators and strategies from the extensive library that Trality constantly updates - anyone can automate their already-existing strategies.

Getting started with Trality will not cost you a cent. There is a FREE option for beginners which is not time-restricted. If you want more bots and more volume though, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the three other flexible plans.

Zignaly

Zignaly is a relative newcomer on the scene of cryptocurrency trading bots, in fact, it is still currently in its beta stage. Despite this, there is a lot of cause for people to feel positive about the future of the project. The company itself was founded in 2018, in Madrid by David Coronado and Bartolome Bordallo. The system works by using a cloud-system that connects to a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges through the use of APIs, allowing trading orders to be made automatically.

Some of the features included in Zignaly include the ability to trade unlimited cryptocurrency pairs, the ability to create trailing stop losses and the provision of buy-and-sell signals from high-quality third-party providers.

As it stands, Zignaly has only managed to achieve integration with Binance, however, it can be seen on their website that more options are currently in the works, including Bittrex, BitMEX, Kucoin, and Poloniex.

As it stands, due to the fact that Zignaly is still in its beta, the pricing for the trading platform is currently kept at $15.99 per month, with the promise that the earliest purchasers will have their prices frozen when the full product is released. Because of this, it would most likely be worth the money for a trader hop onto the project early so that they can take advantage of this offer.

Gunbot

Gunbot is something of a veteran in the world of cryptocurrency trading bots, with the project initially being founded by Gunther De Niro in December 2016. The bot uses APIs to link to a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges, including  Cryptopia, Kraken, Bittrex, Binance, Poloniex, Bitfinex, Bittrex, CEX, Coinbase Pro, Huobi, and Kucoin.

Gunbot is an incredibly versatile cryptocurrency bot, mainly because it already comes pre-set with the capability to perform a large number of different trading strategies, this gives the trader the ability to encourage the bot to act either more aggressively, or more cautiously. 

Gunbot has six different tiers of payment, which will give the user access to five different levels of functionality, which can be found below.

Haasbot

Haasbot is operated and owned by the company Haas Online Software, which was founded by Stephan de Hass in January 2014, making the brand one of the most experienced when considering cryptocurrency trading bots. The company offers bots that are fully programmable, written in the C# programming language.

The Haasbot has the capability to automate the trading of any altcoin pairs, with no restrictions on a maximum limit for altcoin pairs. The platform is available on both Windows and Linux and will continue to make trades for the user on a 24/7 basis. With regards to the bot itself, it makes use of over 50 technical indicators that become the basis for any trading decisions made by the bot. Users are also able to protect some of their trades by making use of Haasbot’s insurance services.

Haasbot is currently compatible with over twenty of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. This also includes exchanges such as Binance, Bitfinex, BitMEX, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, Huobi, Kraken, Kucoin, and Poloniex.

With regards to pricing for Haasbot, there are three different packages available and they can all be taken out on varying contract lengths. Users will be able to sign a contract for either 3, 6, or 12 months. All payments by customers will have to be made in Bitcoin and the actual price range can fluctuate between 0.04 BTC for a three-month Beginner Package and 0.32 Bitcoin for a twelve-month advanced license. In terms of differences between the two packages, Beginner will give you access to 10 Haasbots, over ten insurances, and 20 indicators, whilst the Advanced Package has no limit on these items and will provide you with priority support.

Cryptotrader

Cryptotrader is one of the more enigmatic projects on this list, with very little information being provided about the masterminds behind the project and simply the nature of the project’s birth itself. From what we do know, the project is run by a company called Algocraft Ltd and its cloud-based automated trading platform uses the CoffeeScript programming language. Bitcoin and altcoins can be traded on the platform, without the need for special software, 24 hours per day.

The project itself will provide its users with a set of pre-loaded trading strategies so that a trading pattern many be established quickly. Furthermore, experienced traders and newer traders alike can make use of the platform’s strategy marketplace, which is a place where traders can buy and sell pre-generated strategies. Users are able to either live-test or backtest their trading strategies, allowing them to see how a bot would have performed in a past market, under certain conditions.

As it stands, Cryptotrader’s platform currently has the support to integrate with 13 of the most prominent exchanges in the market, including Binance, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Bittrex, CEX.io, Coinbase, Huobi, Kraken, Poloniex, and Quione.

With regards to pricing for the Cryptotrader platform, there are five levels of paid subscriptions, each more expensive than the next, each unlocking new and improved features at each level.

*Disclaimer: Each one of the companies listed above was selected by me personally based on their popularity, reputation and traffic. The order of appearance is random and doesn't reflect my opinion. I use my own automated bot and trade at my own risk. Always remember to trade at your own risk and with responsibility. I'm not providing any investment recommendations nor professional advices.

**I write about Blockchain, Startups and Marketing. In 2017 I Co-Founded Guerrilla Buzz, an innovative growth and marketing agency for blockchain startups. You can find me here and also on Twitter, Linkedin and Telegram

***Check out some some more interesting articles that I wrote:

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