Trading is often an emotional, time-consuming rollercoaster – especially so for crypto markets. This makes automated tools like trading bots extremely helpful in saving time, effort, and to assist in maximising profits in 24/7 moving markets.
Understanding the importance of such tools, we are excited to announce the launch of Trading Bots on BitMEX – our new feature for users to automate their profits on our platform, with no coding required.
Access 24/7 trading to follow crypto markets with emotion-free decisions, all while following your personal strategies via a fully customisable set up.
To learn more about the new feature and how it works, read on.
If you haven’t signed up for a BitMEX account yet, we’re currently offering $5,000 worth of BMEX Tokens to new users – you can register here.
Introduction to Trading Bots on BitMEX
Our new Trading Bots feature helps trade on your behalf, so that you can save time, effort, and money in one go. They’re designed to follow predefined rules (also known as algorithms) or to react to signals (external and internal, with an example being CPI data releases) when executing trades.
With over 200 bots available across 40+ contracts, BitMEX Trading Bots are professionally designed with top-tier algorithms to help you take the best positions possible depending on market conditions.
Each trading bot on BitMEX is fully customisable based on a user’s needs – including but not limited to their max position size and time intervals for placing trades.
There are two categories of Trading Bots on BitMEX: Basic and Advanced. For those just getting started with automated trading, we recommend using the Basic Bots feature which can help you execute with a few clicks.
The Advanced Bots feature is designed for those more familiar with bot trading, and offers a more extensive scope of parameters for each bot – users can choose their desired grid spread and counts, the indicator that a bot places trades on (e.g. RSI), and much more.
How to Use Trading Bots on BitMEX
Before getting started, select the contract you wish to start trading (e.g. BTCUSD or ETHUSD).
On the left side of your trading UI, you’ll find your Order form. At the top of the Order form, click on the Bots tab, as shown below.
Once you’re there, you’ll be greeted with a green bot labelled Automated Trades, as shown above. Here, you will be able to adjust two things:
- Market View: Whether you wish to Buy/Long vs. Sell/Short the contract
- Max. Position Size: The price increments at which your trades are placed at*
*Note: You can input your max. position size in Notional (underlying currency) terms or Total Value terms (USD). You can find more details on minimum position sizes for each contract on BitMEX on the detailed contracts guide page.
After setting the criterias to levels you’re comfortable with, click on either the Buy/Long or Sell/Short button (depending on your market view) to get started.
Your bot will start running immediately after you hit start. Once it begins, the bot will automatically place trades aligned with your market view (e.g. Buy/Long will place Take Profit orders) while also placing defensive orders (Stop Loss orders) at the same time.
How to Change or Stop Your Trading Bot
You are able to amend your bot or stop it from running at any time.
Let’s say you believe Bitcoin will go up in the next week. With this view, you decide to start a Buy/Long Bot for BTCUSD. Once your bot starts running, your Order form will display the following, as shown below.
If, after time, you feel that the market is turning against you (in other words, moving in the opposite direction of your initial long view), you can click the ‘Change to Sell/Short’ button, as shown above.
To stop your Bot from running, click on ‘Stop Bot’. If successful, a pop-up notification should appear on the bottom right corner of your screen, as shown below.
For Pro Traders: Advanced Bots on BitMEX
Users looking for more configuration options for their bots can use our Advanced Bot feature.
You can access Advanced Bots via two ways, as outlined below.
Method 1: Bots Order form
Under the Bots tab, turn on the slider next to ‘Use Advanced Bots’.
This will display Bots with more configuration options for the contract you have chosen to trade.
You’ll find the list of trading bots available for the selected contract under the ‘Search’ tab. Each bot will show a Configure button and a blue play button.
The configure button allows you to customise the bot based on your strategy. Once you’ve set up the bot’s configuration, you can click on the blue play button to start running your bot.
Method 2: Bots Marketplace
Click on the ‘Bots’ tab located on the navigation bar of the BitMEX trading UI. This will lead you to the Bots Marketplace where you will find all available trading bots on BitMEX.
To configure a Bot, you can click on the edit icon. To start the Bot, click on the blue play button on the right hand side of the edit icon.
For a more detailed guide on how to use the Advanced Bots feature, read this article.
To be the first to know about our new listings, product launches, giveaways and more, we invite you to join one of our online communities and connect with other traders. For the absolute latest, you can also follow us on Twitter, or read our blog and site announcements.
In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact Support who are available 24/7.