How the spot grid bot works
A grid bot buys low and sells high inside a price range you choose. Learn how Escoin's spot grid places its orders, when it earns and what the risks are.
A grid bot is a simple automated strategy for markets that move sideways. You choose a price range, and the bot keeps buying lower and selling higher inside that range. On Escoin Exchange you create a spot grid bot on the Grid page (/grid).
The settings
- Market, for example BTC/USDT
- Lower and upper price of the range
- Number of grids, from 2 to 100. The range is split into equal steps.
- Investment: the amount the bot may use. It is divided equally between the grid levels.
What the bot does
When you start the bot, it places real limit orders on the order book: buy orders on the levels below the current price and sell orders on the levels above it. To have coins for those sell orders, the bot buys the needed amount with a market order at the start.
From then on it repeats one rule:
- When a buy order fills, the bot places a sell order one level higher.
- When a sell order fills, the bot places a buy order one level lower.
Every filled sell completes a round. The profit of a round is the price difference between two neighbouring levels, minus trading fees. The bot page shows the rounds and the profit so far.
When it works well, and when it does not
A grid bot earns most when the price moves up and down inside your range many times. It has limits:
- If the price falls below the range, the bot ends up holding coins that are worth less than you paid.
- If the price rises above the range, all coins are sold and the bot waits with USDT, so it misses the rest of the rally.
- More grids mean smaller steps: more rounds, but less profit per round, and fees take a larger share.
Profit is never guaranteed. Start with a small amount and a range you understand.
Stopping the bot
You can stop the bot whenever you want. Its open orders are cancelled and the coins and USDT stay in your account. The Bot Center (/bots) also offers futures grid, spot DCA and futures DCA bots.