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Bots

Deploy, configure, and manage your automated trading bots.

Overview

A bot is a dedicated compute instance that runs your trading strategy 24/7. Each bot connects to your exchange via an API key and executes trades based on the strategy template you assign to it.

The Bots page shows all your deployed bots as cards in a grid. Each card displays the bot's label, status, last heartbeat, assigned API key, template, and region. You can search bots by label or ID, and access a deployment history of past (destroyed) instances.

Deploying a Bot

To deploy a new bot, click the "Deploy Bot" button on the Bots page. You'll be prompted to provide:

  • Bot name — A label to identify this bot instance (e.g. "BTC Trend Follower").
  • Region — The cloud region where the bot will run. Choose a region close to your exchange's servers for lower latency.

After deploying, the bot will appear with a "Deploying" status. Once provisioning completes, it transitions to "Running" and begins processing market data. You'll then need to assign an API key and strategy template before it can trade.

Bot Lifecycle

A bot goes through the following states:

  1. Deploying — The compute instance is being provisioned. This typically takes under a minute.
  2. Running — The bot is live and processing data. It sends regular heartbeats to confirm connectivity. If a heartbeat is missed, the bot shows as offline.
  3. Destroyed — The bot has been shut down and its compute instance deallocated. Destroyed bots appear in the deployment history for reference. You must close all open positions and take the bot offline before destroying it.

Assigning API Keys

Each bot needs an API key to connect to your exchange. You assign keys on the bot's detail page.

  • Each API key can only be assigned to one bot at a time.
  • The key must be active (not disabled) to be assignable.
  • API key assignment can only be changed when the bot has no open positions — this prevents orphaned positions on the exchange.

Assigning Templates

Each bot runs one strategy template at a time. You can select or change the template from the bot's detail page under the Template tab.

Changing a template on a bot with open positions applies immediately. The bot will begin using the new strategy's exit rules and may close positions differently than the original strategy intended. A confirmation dialog warns you before this change takes effect.

Risk Limits

Each bot has its own configurable risk parameters, separate from its strategy template. Risk limits act as hard safety guardrails that override strategy behaviour — they cannot be bypassed by signals or exit rules.

Configure risk limits on the bot's detail page under the Risk Limits tab. The parameters are grouped into three categories:

Position Limits

  • Max positions per asset — Maximum concurrent positions on a single symbol.
  • Max positions total — Maximum concurrent positions across all symbols.

Loss Limits

  • Max per-trade loss — Maximum allowable loss per trade as a percentage of account equity.
  • Daily loss limit — Daily loss kill switch. When daily losses reach this threshold, the bot stops opening new positions for the rest of the day.
  • Consecutive loss pause — Number of consecutive losing trades before a cooldown period triggers.
  • Cooldown duration — How long the bot pauses after hitting the consecutive loss threshold.

Execution Safety

  • Max leverage — Leverage cap for perpetual contracts. Orders exceeding this are rejected.
  • Max slippage — Maximum acceptable fill slippage from the expected price.
  • API error threshold — Number of consecutive API errors before the bot halts.

Bots use sensible defaults when no custom risk limits are configured. Changes to risk parameters are picked up by the bot in real time — no restart required.

Changing risk limits on a bot with open positions takes effect immediately. A confirmation dialog warns you before the change is applied.

Pause & Resume

You can pause a running bot to temporarily stop it from opening new positions. While paused:

  • The bot will not open new positions.
  • Existing positions remain open and exit rules continue to be evaluated — the bot will still close positions when exit conditions are met.
  • The bot continues receiving market data and processing signals internally, so when resumed it has full context.

Resume the bot at any time to allow it to open new positions again.

Bot Detail Page

Clicking a bot card opens its detail page, which has three tabs:

Template

Select or change the strategy template. Shows the current template's description and a breakdown of all active components organised by category and role.

Risk Limits

Configure per-bot risk parameters — position limits, loss limits, and execution safety guards. Changes are applied to the bot in real time.

Activity

A feed of recent bot events — deployments, template changes, API key assignments, pauses, resumes, errors, and other operational events. Useful for understanding what the bot has been doing and diagnosing issues.