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✦ DCA Bot

Automate Crypto Entries With a DCA Bot

Choose when your bot enters — immediately, from indicator conditions or after a configured price move — then use a safety-order ladder to build and manage the position.

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  • 3 Start Modes
  • Safety-Order Ladder
  • Spot & Futures
  • Historical Backtesting
Altrady DCA Bot indicator entry condition with RSI and other technical indicators

From Entry Condition to Managed Position

Choose when the bot should enter, then define how the position should be built and managed. The start condition determines when the position opens. Your DCA settings determine how additional entries are placed, while take-profit and stop-loss rules manage the exit.

  1. Start Condition
  2. Initial Entry
  3. Safety Orders
  4. Take Profit / Stop Loss

  1. Step 1

    Choose the Start Condition

    Start immediately, on your indicator conditions or after a configured price move.

  2. Step 2

    The Bot Places the Initial Entry

    The first order opens the position on your selected market.

  3. Step 3

    Safety Orders Build the Position

    Additional entries are placed at your configured price steps and sizes.

  4. Step 4

    Your Rules Manage the Exit

    Take-profit targets and your stop loss decide how the position is closed.

Start modes

Choose How Your DCA Bot Starts

Every DCA Bot starts with one of three start modes. It decides when the bot opens a position — the safety orders, take profit and stop loss work the same way afterwards.

  • Immediate

    Start the position on your selected market(s) without waiting for an indicator or price-move trigger.

  • Indicator

    Wait for your configured indicator conditions to become true at candle close — on the markets you pick, or across every market on a quote currency.

  • Price Move

    Trigger an entry after price moves by the percentage you set — a drop for longs, or a rise for futures shorts.

You pick the start mode when you create the bot. Market selection, investment and position settings follow.

Indicator start

Start When Your Indicator Conditions Are Met

The bot opens a position when your entry condition turns true at a candle close.

  1. Side. Long or short.

  2. Timeframe. The candle size the conditions are checked on.

  3. Entry condition. One condition, or several combined.

  4. Exit condition (optional). Close the position at market when it turns true. Take profit and stop loss still apply.

Already built a rule in the TA Scanner? Import it from your rules, or start from a template.

Start conditions step of an Indicator DCA Bot: Long side, 1 hour timeframe, the entry condition RSI 14 is below 30 and the optional exit condition RSI 14 is above 70, each with an Import button
Price move start

Start After a Configured Price Move

Set how far price has to move before the bot enters.

  1. Buy when price drops. The percentage the price has to fall.

  2. Measured from. The price at the last position close, or the open of the current candle for an interval such as 4 hours.

On a futures account you can also sell short when price rises by the percentage you set.

Price move step of a DCA Bot: Buy when price drops 5% measured from Last position close, with the note that the buy order sits on the exchange at the trigger price
Safety orders

Build the Position With Safety Orders

After the initial entry, DCA Bot can place additional configured entries as price moves, building the position according to your strategy.

  1. Initial Entry
  2. Safety Order 1
  3. Safety Order 2
  4. Safety Order 3

  1. Safety orders. How many additional entries the bot can place.

  2. Price step. How far price moves before the next safety order.

  3. Order size multiplier. How each safety order's size changes from the one before.

  4. Step distance multiplier. How the distance between safety orders changes down the ladder.

Each safety order that fills changes the position's average entry price. The average entry distance shows where it would sit once the ladder is filled.

Entry tab of a DCA Bot with Safety orders (DCA) switched on, 6 safety orders, a 2% price step, order size and step distance multipliers of 1.2 and an average entry distance of -10.84%
Position size

Control How the Position Is Built

Your investment is divided between the initial entry and the safety orders, so you can see what a position commits before the bot starts.

Start from a Conservative, Balanced or Aggressive variant, then adjust the settings to fit your strategy.

  1. Entry order. What the first order of each position costs.

  2. Full position cost. What the position costs once every safety order has filled.

  3. Entry and DCA split. How the full position divides between the initial entry and the safety orders.

Reinvest profits

Choose whether realized profit is added back into the bot's allocated funds, so future positions can use a larger base.

Position cost card of a DCA Bot showing the entry order, the exchange minimum per order and the full position cost, with a bar splitting the position between Entry 7.7% and DCA 92.3%
Take profit

Plan the Exit Before the Position Opens

Set take-profit targets as part of the strategy, so every position knows how it should be closed.

  1. Entry
  2. Safety Orders
  3. Take Profit

  1. Targets. One target, or several partial targets.

  2. Profit. Measured from the position's average entry price.

  3. Volume. How much of the position each target closes.

  4. Trailing. Let the last target follow price instead of closing at a fixed level.

Indicator bots can also close at market on an optional exit condition.

Take profit tab of a DCA Bot with two targets, 2% and 5% profit at 50% volume each, an average exit distance of 3.5% and the Enable trailing for last target switch
Stop loss

Define Your Downside Rules

Configure when the position should be stopped and, where configured, how the stop adjusts as the trade develops.

  1. Stop distance. How far price can move against the position before the stop triggers.

  2. Protection. None, Break even, Follow TP or Follow price.

  3. Advanced settings. A stop loss timeout, and an emergency stop loss that closes the position straight away.

A stop loss is a rule the bot follows. It does not guarantee the price at which a position is closed.

Stop loss tab of a DCA Bot with a -25% stop distance and the Protection options None, Break even, Follow TP and Follow price
Spot & futures

Run DCA Strategies on Spot and Futures

Use DCA Bot on spot markets, or on futures markets where it can run long and short strategies.

Short strategies are available on futures accounts only. Availability depends on the connected exchange and market.

  • Spot
  • Futures
  • Long
  • Short (futures)
Price move step of a DCA Bot on a futures account with Short, sell the spike selected and the field Sell short when price rises set to 5%
Backtesting

Backtest Your DCA Strategy Before You Run It

Test supported Indicator and Price Move DCA configurations against historical candles before you create or run the bot.

  • Positions
  • Win rate
  • PnL
  • Profit factor & max drawdown
DCA bot backtest in Altrady: a BTC/USDT 1 hour chart with simulated buy and sell markers, and the result card with Net PnL, Net PnL %, Positions, Win rate, Profit factor and Max drawdown for the last 30 days

Backtest results are historical simulations and do not predict future performance.

Test Across Markets and Time Windows

Run a backtest from the review step while you create an Indicator or Price Move bot, or test indicator setups on the DCA bot backtest page.

  1. Time window. Choose a historical window, from 7 days up to the window your plan allows.

  2. Several markets. See positions, win rate and PnL for each market, with a total.

  3. Individual positions. Open the list of backtested positions for a market.

  4. Run again. Update the result after you change your settings.

  5. Create the bot. Start a DCA Bot from an indicator setup you tested.

Immediate DCA Bots are not backtested: backtesting applies to Indicator and Price Move start modes.

Explore Backtesting
Backtest panel of a DCA Bot for three markets on the last 30 days of 1 hour candles, with positions, win rate, PnL % and PnL per market, a total row and the note that each market is tested on its own
Paper Trading

Test the Bot With Simulated Funds

Use Paper Trading to run the DCA Bot with simulated funds before creating a live version.

  1. Run it on a demo account. Pick a demo account when you create the bot.

  2. Convert to Live. When you're ready, create a live copy of the demo bot on the same exchange. The demo bot is stopped first.

Paper Trading is simulated. Live fills and results can differ.

Explore Paper Trading
Convert to Live dialog for a demo DCA Bot explaining that it creates a live copy that trades with real funds and stops the demo bot first
Bot overview

Monitor Every DCA Position

Each DCA Bot has its own page with its stats, open positions, errors and settings, on desktop and on your phone.

  • Invested
  • Positions
  • Realized PnL
  • Unrealized PnL
  • Total PnL
DCA Bot page in Altrady with the Overview tab: Invested, Positions, Realized PnL, Unrealized PnL and Total PnL, and an open BTC/USDT long position with its DCA and take-profit progress

Positions lists open and closed positions with safety-order and take-profit progress, stop loss and errors. Error log shows anything the bot couldn't do, Analytics shows performance over time, and Settings lets you adjust parameters.

Review How Your DCA Bot Is Performing

The Analytics tab shows the bot's results for the report period you choose.

  • Win rate and PnL

    Win rate with positions won and lost, plus realized, unrealized and total PnL.

  • Performance charts

    Cumulative PnL, daily PnL and closed positions over the report period.

  • Breakdowns

    See results broken down by session, DCA usage, volume and market.

Analytics describe past results. They are not a forecast of future performance.

DCA Bot or HODL Bot?

Both bots can buy in stages, but they are built for different jobs.

DCA Bot

Best for
Active trading strategies that build positions with an initial entry and safety-order ladder
Starts
Immediately, from indicator conditions or from a configured price move
Position behavior
Manages entries and exits according to the strategy

HODL Bot

Best for
Scheduled long-term accumulation
Starts
According to a recurring schedule
Position behavior
Makes scheduled purchases and does not sell
Explore HODL Bot

DCA Bot or Signal Bot?

Both manage positions with entries, take profit and stop loss. What starts the trade is different.

DCA Bot

Trigger
Immediate, indicator conditions or price move
Core purpose
Build and manage positions using a configured DCA / safety-order strategy

Signal Bot

Trigger
Trading signals from supported signal providers
Core purpose
Apply configured trading rules to provider-generated opportunities
Explore Signal Bot

DCA Trading Inside Your Altrady Workspace

DCA Bot runs in the same Altrady workspace you use to monitor positions, manage trades and review performance.

  1. Trigger
  2. Enter
  3. Build
  4. Manage
  5. Review

One Workspace. Every Trade.

Run DCA Bots Across Your Connected Exchanges

Use DCA Bot with supported markets on your connected exchange accounts while your funds remain on your exchanges.

Altrady connects to supported third-party exchanges through API keys and does not require withdrawal permissions. DCA Bot features depend on the exchange and market.

  • 19+ Exchanges

  • Spot & Futures

  • Funds Remain on Your Exchanges

  • No Withdrawal Permissions

  • Binance
  • Bybit
  • OKX
  • Coinbase
  • Kraken
  • KuCoin
  • MEXC
  • Hyperliquid

Explore More Ways to Automate

DCA Bot is one of six Altrady trading bots. Choose the automation approach that matches how you trade.
Explore Trade Automation

Frequently Asked Questions

Build Your DCA Strategy and Put It to Work

Choose when the bot should enter, configure how the position is built, and define how the trade should be managed.

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