The 15 Best Crypto Trading Bots
By Lucas Wyland on The Capital
Making profits from the highly volatile cryptocurrency market is all about timing and access to sound trading strategies and technical analysis. With hundreds of assets to choose from and markets open 24/7, the learning curve for new crypto traders is much steeper and the potential for losses is often much greater.
For these reasons, crypto trading bots and software platforms have become essential for many traders. By employing software to trade automatically on your behalf, not only are you able to execute trades at any hour of the day, but many crypto trading bots have features that actually help you develop and refine your own trading strategies. In the highly volatile crypto market, chances are you’re already trading against bots whether you realize it or not.
This guide provides a detailed breakdown of the best crypto trading bots and the unique advantages they provide, but first, we’ll go through a high-level overview of the most relevant features to be aware of when you’re analyzing various crypto trading bots, tools, and platforms.
What is a trading bot and do you really need to use one?
Any automated trading system is based on a set of rules that dictate when to buy or sell. Bots have been used in the traditional stock market since the 1980s to curate index funds and diversify portfolios. These bots automate the work that investors have historically carried out themselves, which can save crucial time in the fast-paced crypto market.
Then there are technical trading bots that predict price movements and execute trades based on signals and indicators. These are the most commonly used bots as crypto traders race to beat the market with a winning strategy.
Features to look for in crypto trading bots and tools
Free Trial
All of the trading bots featured on this list have been well-reviewed in various crypto trading communities and websites, but nothing beats trying out the product for yourself. The majority of tools and platforms on this list offer a free trial but be sure to double-check.
Social Trading
In addition to developing your own trading strategies, you may want the option to follow other traders and other common strategies used with the product. A good strategies marketplace built within your trading tool of choice will make it easy and cost-efficient to benefit from profitable trade strategies.
Backtesting
Backtesting allows you to test trading strategies against historical data to see how your algorithm or trading strategy would have performed under real market conditions. Obviously, you want to have access to backtesting features that create the most realistic simulations which mean taking into account slippage and latency. This means that the accuracy of the backtesting tool is only as reliable as the historical data sources that it pulls from. You’ll also want to look for a robust community of traders who share their backtesting configurations on community forums.
Indices
Many trading tools offer portfolio automation, and it’s important to consider how they create their indices. Unlike with stocks and securities, it’s not possible to maintain a complete index of all coins currently traded in the crypto market. So a good trading bot should have educational content that details which coins are sampled and how market caps are weighted in the index.
Cloud-based vs. Server based
Most of the newest crypto bots are cloud-based, so if convenience is a high priority for you, this is something to be aware of. If a trading tool is not cloud-based, you will have to keep your server/computer running at all times to make sure you don’t miss any trades. While it does require some technical know-how to run trading software on your own server, the upside is that it’s more customizable and typically has higher performance. If this is a priority for you, then there are some great open-source programs on this list.
Trading Communities
When it comes to trading, the community around a product can often be just as important as the product itself. You’re paying not just for the technology but for the living manual that will help you use it most effectively. If you really want to get the most out of your trading software it’s a good idea to check out the trading community that is using it. Many of the trading tools on this list have made big investments in community development, while others are more suited for the lone wolf traders. Compare how active the trading communities are on Telegram, Reddit, or Discord. It’s also important for you to consider the country and language of the trading community as crypto regulations are different all around the world.
Support & Tutorials
As you consider which trading tools to invest in, take a look at the educational content that is available on the site. In order to reach the growing market of new crypto traders, many of the platforms on this list have developed training modules, blogs, and videos to educate their users. Also, consider the support offered for when things inevitably go wrong. With responsive chat or phone support, bugs and updates can be promptly addressed so that you can get on with trading-otherwise you might waste valuable time waiting days or weeks for email reply.
Crypto Tax Software Integrations
Check out this guide to learn more about how crypto tax reporting works.
Our Trading Platforms of Choice:
Best for Beginners
Best for Advanced
Best for Price
Best for UI
Best for Community
Breaking Down The Top Crypto Trading Bots
CryptoHopper
CryptoHopper is one of the most used trading bots on the market, and it offers many of the features that a beginner should be looking for: paper trading, backtesting, trailing stop-loss and a strategy designer tool that makes it easy to customize your trading strategy with the help of over 130 indicators. They have a robust tutorial section for beginners as well as the option of purchasing the best strategies and templates from expert traders. Within their signaler dashboard, they make it easy to subscribe to many external signalers. CryptoHopper is cloud-based and supports up to 12 exchanges, and they are always adding more. For advanced traders, CryptoHopper has a marketplace of free and paid signals which you can combine with technical indicators to customize your own strategy.
Prices
They do have a free Pioneer package that enables manual trading and portfolio management, but if you really want to get a sense for their trading bot you should try their 7-day free trial of the Explorer package. They have three packages for a monthly subscription ranging from $19 to $99.
Exchanges
Binance
Binance.us
Bitfinex
Bittrex
Coinbase Pro
Bitvavo
HitBTC
Huobi
Kraken
KuCoin
OKEx
HaasOnline
Haasonline has a powerful backtesting engine that draws from up to 56 weeks of historical data. One of its premier features is the Flash crash bot which allows you to do a spread order strategy on the market you choose. They currently support 22 exchanges and margin traders will be pleased with the wide variety of futures trading platforms available. Though it is a great option for advanced traders their Visual Editor does simplify the process of building trade strategies without coding.
Prices
Haasonline offers three packages for a one-time payment of .047 BTC for Beginner, .083 BTC for Simple, and .135 BTC for Advanced. They do not offer a completely free trial, but you can try their premium plan for 2 weeks at a discount.
Exchanges
Binance
Binance Futures
Binance.us
Bitfinex
BitMEX
Bitpanda Pro
Bitstamp
Bittrex
Cex.io
Coinbase Pro
Deribit
Gemini
HitBTC
Huobi Global
Ionomy
Kraken
Kraken Futures
KuCoin
OkCoin
OKEx
OKEx Futures
3Commas
3Commas is a cloud-based platform and supports up to 20 exchanges. Beginners can start with their paper trading feature to test out their strategies. Advanced traders will get value out of their SmartTrading tool which allows trading from multiple exchanges and pairs from within their streamlined interface.
3Commas has also partnered with CryptoTrader.Tax to bring automated tax reporting to their users.
Prices
3Commas offers a 3-day free trial for the Pro package, which lets you try out all of their features. They have monthly subscription plans ranging from $22, $37, and $75. There’s a 15% discount for a 6-month subscription and 25% off for a yearly subscription. If you want to access marketplace signals that is an additional subscription through their Marketplace.
Exchanges
Binance
Binance DEX
Binance Futures
Binance.us
BitMEX
Bitfinex
Bitstamp
Bittrex
Bybit
Cex.io
Coinbase Pro
Exam
Gate.io
HitBTC
Huobi Global
Kraken
KuCoin
OKEx
Poloniex
Shrimpy
Shrimpy has a great community as well as social trading features built-in. You can tap into the community through Reddit, Telegram, or Discord to learn more about how other users are leveraging the tool and making profits.
Shrimpy has also partnered up with CryptoTrader.Tax to offer a simple solution for tax reporting to its users. If you become a shrimpy user, you can sleep easy knowing that your tax reporting can be automated with this CryptoTrader.Tax partnership.
Pricing
Getting started building out your automated portfolio is free. Once you move onto more advanced features Shrimpy is $13-$19 per month. They also offer enterprise pricing for businesses and crypto companies looking to leverage their software for trading.
Exchanges
Bibox
Binance
Binance.us
Bitfinex
BitMart
Bitstamp
Bittrex
Bittrex Global
Coinbase Pro
HitBTC
Huobi Global
Kraken
KuCoin
OKEx
Poloniex
Coinigy
The Coinigy platform boasts hundreds of thousands of users leveraging its suite of trading tools today, so you know you are in good hands.
In addition, the Coinigy team has partnered with CryptoTrader.Tax to allow all of its users tradings on its platform to have access to easy tax reporting. Coinigy users can import their trades directly into CryptoTrader.Tax and the software will automatically create their needed tax forms based on their historical trade data. See more about this partnership here.
Prices
A monthly subscription ranges from free (for just getting started), to $18.66, to $99. Higher tiers get access to a greater depth of features and tools.
Exchanges
Binance
Bitfinex
Bitstamp
Bittrex
CEX.IO
Coinbase Pro
Huobi Pro
Kraken
Kucoin
Zignaly
Zignaly offers copy trading, trading bots, and a full crypto terminal within the platform. It is cloud-based software, and the team is focused on being a low barrier to entry platform that simplifies the entire process from start to finish.
One of the best features of Zignaly is the depth of their signals integrations. You can pull in signals from your favorite signals provider to trade automatically on these signals.
Zignaly is another trading platform that has partnered up with CryptoTrader.Tax to bring automated tax reporting to their users. See more about the partnership here.
Pricing
FREE. Zignaly is completely free to use as a result of its partnership with various cryptocurrency exchanges. This is a huge advantage over competing products, and it makes giving the platform a try a no-brainer!
Exchanges
KuCoin
Binance
More coming soon…
Kryll
Kryll has a very active trading community which makes its Marketplace a competitive feature for the platform. If you think you’ve created a winning strategy, you can choose to publish your strategy in the Marketplace and earn a commission from every trader that uses it. Beginner traders might want to start with renting a strategy from the Marketplace.
Prices
Kryll’s pricing model is based on transaction fees per trade. All fees are paid in KRL token and you can lower those fees by holding KRL. They do not offer a free trial, but their pay per use model lets you try out the product a little bit at a time without committing to a subscription. Kryll is an especially good option for Binance users as their partnership can reduce your Binance trading fees by up to 20%.
Exchanges
Binance
Binance.us
Bitstamp
Bittrex
HitBTC
Kraken
KuCoin
Coinrule
Coinrule does not have any tax reporting partnerships as some of the other options on this list.
Prices
Coinrule has a free trial that lets you try out the product with 1 exchange and up to 2 rules. For paid options, they have 3 packages for a monthly or yearly subscription. Here are their monthly rates: Hobbyist package is $29, the Trader package is $59 and then the full Pro account is $449.
Exchanges
Bitpanda Pro
Bitstamp
Bittrex
Coinbase Pro
HitBTC
Kraken
Liquid
Poloniex
Trade Santa
The TradeSanta website really excels at making automated trading feel simple. They have great tutorials and 24/7 support. You can build your strategy using their Long or Short templates or customize your own from scratch. They currently support 6 exchanges with support for BitMEX arriving soon.
Prices
They have 4 pricing plans based on monthly subscriptions: Free, $20/month, $100/month. They have one more plan as part of a special partnership with. HitBTC which is $30/month with 0% trading fees on HitBTC. You get unlimited trading pairs and exchanges on each plan. The only difference is that you have access to more bots with the higher-priced plans.
Exchanges
Binance
Bittrex
Bitfinex
HitBTC
Huobi
HodlBot
Holdbot is a cloud-based trading bot for portfolio creation, indexing, and rebalancing. If you’re an investor who wants to automate tasks that you would already be doing anyway, HodlBot is a great option. Their strongest feature is their crypto market indices comprised of the top 20 coins by square root market cap. In order to keep the best assets in your portfolio, you need a well-researched index, and this is the advantage that HodlBot Provides
Prices
You can try HodlBot for free with a 7-day trial and after that pricing is based on portfolio value. Accounts under $500 are $3 per month. From $500 — $100 a subscription is $6 per month. $1000 and above is $14 per month.
Exchanges
Binance
Kraken
4C-Trading
With a Trade Room subscription, you’ll have the option to subscribe to bots and signals. The Telegram-integrated Smart USD Trading Bot is a great option for new Binance traders with fully-automated trading on the BTC/USDT pair. This bot was designed with newbies in mind who want to steadily grow their portfolio. With this comparison chart, it’s clear they’re focused on serving HODLERS who would otherwise keep their BTC in a cold wallet.
Another great tool for new traders is the subscription to Copy Trade trading signals for Binance and Bitmex. With a subscription, you can expect to receive around 20–30 signals through Telegram per month with the option of automated copy trading through API. For those who want to do their own research, 4C displays the performance and results of their signals within the 4C Dashboard.
A monthly subscription to the Trade Room is $99 or $900 for the year. The addition of the Smart Bot is $199 a month or $1788 for the year. Trading Signals are $75 per month or $900 per year.
ProfitTrailer
ProfitTrailer is a server-based technical trading bot that executes over 16 strategies. You can choose between bear market, bull market, and neutral market strategies. It has a sleek layout that makes it easy to use key features such as Dollar Cost Averaging which helps you dispose of low performing assets. ProfitTrailer is a great option for advanced traders, but you can toggle between the advanced and basic strategy editors when developing your trade strategies.
Prices
You can check out their product before purchasing by using their live demo on the site as well as a free paper trading option. There are also two free versions in partnership with Binance and Bybit. Paid versions range from a monthly subscription of $30 to two-lifetime packages for $799 or $999.
Exchanges
Poloniex
Bittrex
Binance
BinanceUS
Binance Futures
Binance Jersey
Binance DEX
Kucoin
Huobi
BitMEX
Bybit
Zenbot
The bot features a fully automated technical-analysis-based trading approach. You can also use the built-in simulator for backtesting strategies against historical data.
If you are a developer looking to dabble in automated crypto trading strategies, Zenbot can be an amazing tool to help speed up your strategy build-out.
Pricing
Free and Open-source.
Exchanges
Binance
Bitfinex
Bitstamp
Bittrex
CEX.IO
GDAX
Gemini
HitBTC
Kraken
Poloniex
TheRockTrading
Gunbot
Make sure you are comfortable setting up this bot yourself. You should have experience and comfortability with code and installing your own program.
Prices
You can purchase Gunbot for a one-time payment which includes unlimited updates and support. The prices range from 0.02 BTC to 0.125 BTC to download.
Exchanges
100+
CryptoTrader
Not to be confused with the tax reporting platform CryptoTrader.Tax, CryptoTrader has been around for years and was one of the first to come out with a cloud-based trading platform. The platform has fallen behind in development compared to others on this list, but it is still worth discussing.
CryptoTrader offers a number of attractive features including a strategies marketplace where you can buy and sell the best trading strategies, backtesting, and automated bots out of the box.
Beginners of the bot can leverage the paper trading feature that allows you to trade and test strategies with fictitious money to see how they would perform in real market conditions.
Pricing
CryptoTrader has five pricing tiers — none of which are free. The higher-tier plans come with more features like margin trading support and more. The tiers range from 0.0009 BTC per month to 0.0212 BTC per month.
Exchanges
Bitfinex
Bitstamp
Poloniex
Coinbase
Kraken
Bittrex
KCoin
Binance
Huobi
Crypto Tax Software + Your Trading Bot
Prior to launching your first automated trading strategy with your favorite bot or platform, you should make sure you have a plan for tax reporting.
Cryptocurrency is treated as property by government agencies like the IRS (the revenue department of the U.S.) which means you need to report your capital gains and capital losses from each of your cryptocurrency trades on your yearly tax return.
This can be difficult to do by hand if you have a number of trades across various exchanges. Cryptocurrency tax software like CryptoTrader.Tax is built to automate all of your crypto tax reporting so you don’t have to do any manual work. Simply connect your exchanges and generate your tax reports with the click of a button.
CryptoTrader.Tax has partnered with many of the trading bots and platforms on this list, so you can rest assured that your tax reporting will be easy.
Originally published at https://cryptotrader.tax.
