Today I took my first leap into Crypto Trading.

I am very much a newbie.  I am rather over-awed the amount of advice on how to invest, what to invest in, and how to read or spot any market trends across the thousands of Crypto currencies out there.  So I have taken the decision to let my first few trades be via a Bot.

My reasoning for this is :

• A bot that already has some pre-configuration is likely to loose me less money than I would otherwise have lost myself.  Although if a small profit is made that would be great (a miracle!)
• The bot will make trades without emotion.  I can then backtrack on the trades after a week and inspect / evaluate what went well and what didn't work.  Hopefully this will teach me what to start looking for in the future.

Selecting a Crypto Bot Platform

I had previously looked at a few Crypto Bots (see my previous article) and I choose Quadency.

My reasons were because it offered a selection of "simple" bots to choose from (7 in total) ; it was linked to Binance exchange (where I have an account already) ; I was able to "import" the Bot settings from other users ; and it had a "backtest" function where I could run Bot scenarios on historical data to see if they were effective.

When linking Binance to Quadency you do have to create an API in Binance, and provide the details (via copy/paste) to Quadancy.  This was a very easy process, and helped by Quadency as they take you through a step-by-step tuturiol as you are doing it.

Selecting a Crypto Bot Algorithm

There were seven to choose from.  The good thing about each one is that they give a quick description of how they work, and you can drill down into a further FAQ as well.

Again, being a newbie, I wasn't sure which one to pick.  So I went with Bollinger Bands as it sounded interesting and also something that I could vaguely understand.

Apparently "It buys when the current price is below the lower band and sells when either the profit target or stop-loss level has been reached or when the current price is above the upper band."

"Bollinger Bands consist of a centerline and two price channels (bands) above and below it. The centerline is an exponential moving average; the price channels are the standard deviations of the stock being studied. The bands will expand and contract as the price action of an issue becomes volatile (expansion) or becomes bound into a tight trading pattern (contraction)."

Setting Up My Bot

After selecting the bot, it takes you to a parameters screen.

OMG.  Eeek.  I didn't understand a lot of the things there.

Then I found the "Smart Suggest".  I had a look at other people's settings where they had successes over the last month and "imported" these.  It was a CHZ/USDT market that had been used.

I tweaked with the settings, and then ran a "backtest" over a 1 week period (as I only wanted to run it short term).  Guess what... it was megative.

So I tweaked the settings a bit more.  And it was negative.

After a while I thought I would start again.  I chose a market that I already have some Crypto in - Cosmos (ATOM).  I used another set of "import" parameters on an ATOM/USDT market.  A few mini-tweaks on the profit target and stop loss, and I had a test that would have returned in the region of 20% - although only over a day (as the backtest was taking too long).

"Okay" I thought.  I was ready to invest my millions now... well, my 10 USDT at least. 

Before I could do this, I had to make sure I had enough USDT in my Binance account.  You need the starting capital, plus some additional in case of fees.  So I put in 20 USDT (about £15).  I had this left over from some money my Nan gave me for my Birthday.  Thank you Nan! xxx

Running My Bot

This couldn't have been easier.  I just clicked on "Start Live", and a few more confirmation buttons, waited about 20 seconds, and it was up and running.

"Wow", I thought.  How many shares / trades have been done to start off with?  Is this making me money? 

I kept on refreshing the screen.  And refreshing.  And refreshing...

My excitement had gotten away from me.  The bot will only trade when the parameters are met.  And it needs the market history and the right parameters to make a trade.  This is why I am using a bot - my own personal emotions would only get in the way of making good trades!

Based on the backtest it would take an average of 20 to 30 minutes per trade.  So I am in for a wait now...  I have turned Quadency off for the day, and I will have a look at it tomorrow morning to see how it has done.  Fingers crossed !!!

I will keep you all updated both on the progress of the Bot, and also on any learnings that I pick up along the way.

Note : All of my articles are my own work and relate to my own personal experience.  Investing is always at your own risk.