In traditional markets, bots are widely used by daytraders to automate the buying and selling of assets according to market trends.
When it comes to cryptocurrency markets, these trading bots work the same way. They automate the trading of digital assets according to preset functions, so users could focus on other aspects of their lives and income generation instead of being glued to their computer screens 24/7.
In the past couple of years, a certain type of bot service has started to gain traction among new and experienced traders alike. Focused on portfolio management, this class of automated algorithms is built for maintaining certain percentages of cryptocurrency in a traders’ portfolio at all times.
This way, those traders who actively exchange cryptocurrency as a means of income generation could still make sure that their portfolio is diversified in their preferred way. One of these trading services is HodlBot, which we will be reviewing today.
Time in Business
Launched in early 2018, HodlBot is an automated trading and portfolio management program. It indexes the cryptocurrency market and helps traders in maintaining their crypto portfolios according to their preference.
In simpler terms, the bot buys and sells digital assets to ensure that a trader holds a certain percentage of specific cryptocurrencies in their portfolio. This could either be dependent upon market conditions or through preset mechanisms defined by the trader.
This way, new and experienced day traders, as well as crypto holders, could make sure that they hold a certain percentage of various assets at all times, regardless of how actively they trade cryptocurrencies, or which digital assets are performing in the market.
Due to this focus on diversifying a trader’s portfolio, HodlBot stands apart amidst conventional trading bots.
TOP TRADING BOTS
Reputation
HodlBot debuted in 2018, which means that the bot has had way less time to establish its name than its competitors.
Additionally, where traditional services fulfill a number of very advanced trades for profit generation, HodlBot is only focused on portfolio management. Due to this targeted focus on portfolio, the service has not gained the kind of popularity that conventional trading bots have enjoyed in the same timeframe.
With that being said, it has still made its name among certain parts of cryptocurrency community, especially with those traders who want to diversify their portfolio according to market conditions.
Exchanges Supported
At the time of writing the review, HodlBot supports two exchanges for its automated trading, namely Binance and Kraken.
While the exchanges are popular, the limitation does put a dent into its outreach to those traders who deal with other exchanges.
Pricing
Given the limitations in traditional services that HodlBot brings to the table, its cost is not sky-high. In fact, it boasts of one of the most affordable pricing plans that are currently available for a crypto trading bot.
HodlBot is free of cost for all users who operate cryptocurrency accounts equivalent to $500 or less. This means that if your connected exchange account has less than $500 in equivalent cryptocurrency value, you wouldn’t be charged for using the platform.
But if the account does go over $500, the charges would kick in.
For users going above the $500 mark, HodlBot offers three subscription models.
- 1 Month: $10/month.
- 3 Months: $27 ($9/month)
- 1 Year: $96 ($8/month)
The platform also allows new users to try all features of the platform for 7 days in a free trial. No credit card is required to avail this offer, but it is only available to traders who have never used the website before.
Ease of Use
HodlBot is quite easy to use and comes with a clean and simple user-interface (UI). Connecting to its two provided exchanges also remains quite straightforward through related APIs.
The platform is built with portfolio management in mind, and its web-based interface is evident of that objective. Some of the most important factors are shown on the home screen as a dashboard, so users could have an accurate idea of their portfolio status by glancing at the screen.
Apart from the UI, the overall functionalities also remain quite simple to setup and execute. It is especially helpful for new traders who are focusing on portfolio management. But it is very restrictive for seasoned traders who want more features out of their trading bot.
Settings Available
HodlBot offers a small subset of preset strategies for balance management. These settings are based upon the top-performing cryptocurrencies in the market, and are termed as:
- HODL10
- HODL20
- HODL30
- Kraken10
Each of these strategies denotes to a certain number of top cryptocurrencies. For instance, HODL10 refers to the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the market. If you select this strategy, then your assets would be bought and sold to fulfill certain percentage requirements with each coin that falls in the top 10. Similarly, Kraken10 refers to the top 10 cryptocurrencies according to the exchange.
Apart from this, daytraders or crypto holders could also set up their own diversification strategies and denote percentages to each cryptocurrency of their choice.
Based upon the settings selected in preset and custom indexes, the automatic rebalancing period can be adjusted accordingly.
Security
HodlBot follows industry standard security practices – to some extent.
For instance, it utilizes a secured web server configuration for its platform in the form of HTTPS. This provides the platform with backend encryption and protects API keys from falling into the wrong hands.
With that, HodlBot also advises its users to not allow withdrawals through their API keys. This makes sure that in the event of a hack, traders’ funds are never withdrawn from their cryptocurrency accounts.
What HodlBot glaringly lacks is two-factor authentication (2FA). The absence of this very standard and usual practice that adds another layer of security pushes the service quite behind in terms of its offered safety mechanisms.
Customer Support
HodlBot educates its users on how to use the platform through a detailed documentation section. This helps users to get acclimated with the platform’s features quite easily. This also ensures that if traders have any questions, they could find answers to them through the documentation page without having to go through wait times to speak to a representative.
If you are a HodlBot client and you cannot find an answer to your question within the official documentation, then you could reach out to the platform and pertaining community through Twitter or Telegram. You could also send an email to the dedicated support address.
Profitability
Keeping in line with the rest of the industry, HodlBot does not promise any certain percentage of profits.
This means that in order to test the platform’s viability, you should give it a trial run yourself with your preferred trading strategies. Doing so would help you understand if the platform is beneficial for your specific trading methodologies.
With that being said, the 7-day trial that HodlBot offers to its customers does provide a good way to test out its strategies.
Overall, HodlBot remains a decent client to manage your portfolio, but it still gets overshadowed by tools such as Bitsgap. It is best to utilize such tools for a few days yourself and decide which one suits you the best.