Ready to go further
Next: see the move you need to cover costs
The break-even calculator turns fee, spread and slippage into the price move a trade needs before it is ahead.
What is included
- What it is, in plain words
- The formula or mechanism, with exact arithmetic
- How it hits grid, martingale and DCA bots
- A check you can run before you switch a bot on
Who it is for
- People who run or plan to run a trading bot
- Anyone reading a backtest or a bot sales page
- Readers who want the numbers, not the pitch
- Not advice, and not a signal service
Key facts
- Free usually means no subscription or no purchase price. It does not mean no cost. Every trade pays fees and spread, and a bot makes many trades.
- On the made-up $1,000 account below, 30 round trips cost $24.00 a month in fees, spread and slippage, which is 2.4% of the account (calculated by us on 29 Oct 2026, exact).
- Your time is a cost too: setting up, testing, watching and fixing. In the example, 5 hours at $20 is $100.00.
- A free bot may make its money elsewhere, for example by selling a paid tier, referring you to a venue, or taking a cut of your trades. Find out how it is paid.
- A bot that is free, closed and unexplained is the hardest to judge. If you cannot say when it buys and sells, do not give it money.
What "free" usually means
The word can cover several different things. The code may be free to read and run. The software may have a free tier with limits and a paid tier with more features. A service may cost nothing to join because it earns from something else you do. In each case the bot still trades on a real market, and the market charges for every order.
The question to ask is not "what does it cost to start" but "what does it cost to run for a year, and how is its maker paid". If the answer to the second part is unclear, that is information too.
The costs that remain
- Fees. The exchange or broker charges on each order, often a percent of its value. A round trip pays twice.
- Spread. You buy at the higher price and sell at the lower one. The gap is paid every round trip. See spread.
- Slippage. The fill can be worse than the price you saw, most often in fast or thin markets. See slippage.
- Your time. Reading the settings, testing, watching the bot and fixing what breaks.
- Hosting. A bot that runs all day needs a machine that stays on, or a rented server. Some free tools run only while your computer is awake.
- Risk. The rule itself can lose money. A grid can hold a falling coin, a martingale can run out of cash, and any bot can follow a bad rule faster than you can stop it.
A worked example with made-up numbers
A made-up free bot trades a $1,000 account. It makes 30 round trips a month, each of $200. Per side, the fee is 0.1 percent, the spread cost is 0.05 percent and slippage is 0.05 percent. Each round trip pays every one of these twice.
Monthly cost = fees + spread + slippage
| Cost | Rate per side | Monthly amount | Share of account |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees | 0.1% | $12.00 | 1.2% |
| Spread | 0.05% | $6.00 | 0.6% |
| Slippage | 0.05% | $6.00 | 0.6% |
| Trading total | 0.20% | $24.00 | 2.4% |
| Your time (5 hours at $20) | $100.00 | 10.0% |
The trading total is $24.00 a month, which the bot must earn back before it makes anything. For comparison, a made-up paid tool at $15 a month would cost $15.00, far less than the $24.00 of trading costs. The subscription is not the main cost; the number of trades is. A bot that trades twice as often pays twice the trading costs. Everything here is made up, and your fees, spread and trade sizes will differ.
A checklist before you use a free bot
- Can you say in one sentence when it buys and when it sells?
- Do you know how the maker is paid? A paid tier, a referral link, a cut of trades, or something else?
- Is the source code open to read? If it is closed, what is your reason to trust it with a key?
- What API key rights does it ask for? Trade and read are normal. Withdraw is not.
- What are your real costs per round trip: fee, spread and a slippage allowance? Multiply by how often it trades.
- Has it been tested on a demo account or with paper trading, and did the test include costs?
- What does it do if price falls 20 percent? Is there a stop, or a cap on size?
- Can you switch it off by hand at any moment?
- Is the amount small enough that you can accept losing all of it?
How "free" bots fail
The common failures are the same as for any bot, plus a few that suit free tools. Results shown on the website are often back-tested, which means shaped by the past. See backtesting and overfitting. Support may be thin or absent, so a bug can sit unfixed. A free tool can stop being updated when an exchange changes its rules. And a free promise to "trade for you" can hide a service that needs deposits or keys, which is a risk to the money itself. Read crypto trading bots for key and custody basics.
What this page does not tell you
It does not say that free bots are good or bad, or that paid ones are better. It shows that the price tag is only part of the cost. Whether a bot earns more than it costs is something only careful testing, and then your own results, can show.
Keep Going
Related Tools and Guides
Keep exploring
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there really a free trading bot?
Some bots are free to download or have a free tier. Trading with one still costs fees, spread and slippage, plus your time and the risk of its rules.
How do free bots make money?
Some sell a paid tier, some earn referral fees from venues, some take a share of trades, and some are hobby projects. Find out which before you connect an account.
What is the biggest hidden cost?
For an active bot it is usually the trading cost: fees, spread and slippage on every round trip. A bot that trades more often pays more.
Is a free bot safe to connect to my account?
Not by default. Check what key rights it asks for, keep withdrawals off, use a small amount and prefer code you or someone you trust can read.
Should I test a free bot first?
Yes, on a demo account or with paper trading, with costs included. Treat the result as a ceiling, because real fills are worse than test fills.
Are the numbers on this page real?
Example numbers are made up to show how the maths works, and the page says so. A figure only counts as exact when the page says it was calculated on a stated date. Nothing you enter in a calculator leaves your browser.
Can I use this to decide whether to run a bot?
It can show whether a bot's numbers hold together and how much an account can lose. It cannot say what the market will do, and it is not advice. Use it to ask better questions, then read the terms of your own broker or exchange.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is general education about costs. The numbers are made up and your fees, markets and risk are your own.
Know the Risk Before You Run It
Free calculators and guides, added every week. Leave your details and we will email you when new ones go up.
Trading carries a risk of loss