The main of using bots is that, unlike the equity market, the crypto market runs throughout the day. And it is impossible for a human being to trade continuously. The second advantage is speed and accuracy. Information can be processed and correct trade execution can be done in the blink of an eye while human beings take time to process the information and think about a strategy. Human error can also be reduced. Another factor that affects traders is emotions and biases, and bots are not susceptible to both. They trade based on algorithms. In many aspects, bots are far superior to humans. 

The most common algorithmic trading strategies follow trends in moving averages, channel breakouts, price level movements, and related technical indicators. These are the easiest and simplest strategies to implement through algorithmic trading because these strategies do not involve making any predictions or price forecasts. Trades are initiated based on the occurrence of desirable trends, which are easy and straightforward to implement through algorithms without getting into the complexity of predictive analysis. Using 50-day and 200-day moving averages is a popular trend-following strategy. 

Arbitrage techniques are used in the equity markets, where buying a dual-listed stock at a lower price in one market and simultaneously selling it at a higher price in another market offers the price differential a risk-free profit or arbitrage. The same strategy can be applied in crypto where there are hundreds of exchanges listing the same coins. This is a guaranteed profit strategy especially incase of crypto markets where there can be some significant difference in prices for the same asset across different exchanges. Bots implement an algorithm to identify such price differentials, and placing the orders efficiently allows profitable opportunities.

Standard deviation indicates the amount by which values deviate on average from the mean. The higher the standard deviation, the riskier the investment as it leads to more uncertainty. A term associated with standard deviation reversion is Bollinger Bands. It is a trading indicator (which consists of 3 lines) created by John Bollinger. What do the 3 lines mean? Upper band – Middle band plus 2 standard deviations, the Lower band – Middle band minus 2 standard deviations, and Middle band – 20-period Moving Average. It can help you :

1. Identify potential overbought/oversold areas. 
2. Identify the volatility of the markets. 

Mean reversion strategy is based on the concept that the high and low prices of an asset are a temporary phenomenon that reverts to their mean value (average value) periodically. Identifying and defining a price range and implementing an algorithm based on it allows trades to be placed automatically when the price of an asset breaks in and out of its defined range. This strategy is predicated on the idea that markets have a long term trend, but as we have seen with crypto this might not always be true. Thus caution must be used while using this strategy.

Basically, any crypto trading algorithm can be coded into a bot. It can execute it with high precision, and can blindly rely on bots. No, It's not magic, but it needs proper research as well as technical skills to code and run it (although there are a few free generic bots available). The nature of crypto markets demands bot to trade. The number of exchanges and coins is really something a single person cannot comprehend. There is a strong argument that once everyone starts using the same algorithms, profits cannot be made from such a strategy. While it might sound right, the truth is people will keep inventing new algorithms. 

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The Volatility Index, usually just called VIX for short, measures the fluctuation range of the US stock index S&P500. A high VIX value indicates a volatile market. Investing in high volatility means taking higher risks. The VIX is also called the "fear" index because you can use the index to quantify investors' fears. The higher the VIX, the higher the fear in the market.

Here you can find the current price of the VIX. If you look at the index you will see that during events like the start of the COVID pandemic, the index was above 80 points. New corona waves such as Omicron can also be read from the index. The VIX shows you when the fear and, above all, the uncertainty of investors is at its highest. The VIX reached its last high on 03/07/2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, the VIX has fallen massively. In the past five days, the index lost almost 25%. This shows that the fear and uncertainty of investors are decreasing. An entry into the markets could currently be worthwhile.

Basically, the VIX is based on the US index S&P500, which lists the 500 largest US companies. Cryptocurrencies are therefore not represented in the index and therefore have no impact on the index. However, the past has shown that the prices of cryptocurrencies often correlate with the stock markets. So you can also use the VIX as a guide for crypto investments. To get an idea of ??whether the VIX is currently high or low, you can look at the average of the index. Logically, if the value is above average, the fear is comparatively high. If the value is lower, the fear in the historical price is comparatively low. If you are now investing in cryptos, but want to orientate yourself on the VIX, you want to note that the crypto courses usually fluctuate more than the stock markets.

The VIX can only give you a limited view of market sentiment. The index cannot reflect unforeseeable future events, such as another COVID wave.

The VIX index is imposed by the Chicago Stock Exchange, you can even invest in the VIX through ETFs. Many investors use an investment in the VIX as a hedge for the S&P500.

In the event of high volatility, it is generally advisable to invest in tranches. So if you want to invest EUR 10,000, it makes sense to split it up into five tranches of EUR 2,000 each, for example. By doing this you will have a good cost-average effect. In addition, risky investments such as tech & growth stocks or cryptocurrencies fall significantly more than defensive investments such as gold, bonds, or conservative stocks in volatile markets.

Using only the VIX as a basis for investing in the market, now could be a good time to enter. The VIX has been sharply declining since March 7th. The first signs have already appeared in the past few days, as the stock markets started a three-day rally. However, you should never just use the VIX as a guide when making investments, it only provides an overview.

So what is the Bitcoin CME gap? Let’s have a look at what Bitcoin and the CME are, to begin with.

Bitcoin is the most recognized digital and decentralized cryptocurrency. It is created through solving cryptographic tasks. Transactions are written into a decentral blockchain, which ensures that Bitcoin is always available and immune to manipulation. The revolutionary aspect of Bitcoin is that it does not need a central authority like a bank for the validation of transactions. The current price of Bitcoin in USD/EUR/YEN (Fiat) is created through supply and demand.

After the creation of Bitcoin, many other cryptocurrencies started to pop every now and then. Despite that, Bitcoin remains the biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. it currently has a market dominance of 41.5%.

The CME, or Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is the world’s largest derivatives trading exchange. The CME traditionally offers futures or options on futures on any asset imaginable, from agricultural products, to forex, energy, commodities, and stock indexes.

A future is a legal agreement to buy or sell a well-defined quantity of something at a determined price at a determined day in the future. For example, buying 20 BTC at $19,500 on 1/2/2021. At the height of the 2017 Bitcoin bull run, on October 31st, the CME added Bitcoin to its portfolio of tradeable asset classes:

Shortly after, Bitcoin crashed from its all-time high. Nevertheless, CME Bitcoin futures kept increasing in popularity. The exchange settled an all-time high of 268.18K Bitcoins during May 2019 when Bitcoin ended its winter, moving from $5,250 up to $9,125.

The Bitcoin CME gap, also called the “CME gap” for short, is the difference between the trading price of Bitcoin futures contracts when the market opens on Sunday, and when it closes on Friday. Unlike cryptocurrencies, traditional assets do not trade 24/7 around the clock. Most traditional exchanges follow normal working hours and close on holidays, and the CME is no exception to this!

While you can trade on Binance for example at any given time, the CME Bitcoin futures trading opens from Sunday evening until Friday evening (Central Time). From Friday to Sunday, the Bitcoin CME futures price is “fixed”, while Bitcoin’s price continues to move up (or down) on cryptocurrency spot exchanges. When the CME futures re-open, futures contracts catch up with spot prices, creating a gap!

Example: In this case, the Bitcoin futures closed at $16,925 on Friday, Nov 27th. During the weekend, Bitcoin’s price increased on spot exchanges. When the CME re-opened on Sunday, Nov 29th, the price opened at $18,430 creating a gap of $1,505 or +8.9%.

Bitcoin CME gaps have often been known to “fill”. Filling means that the spot price moves back to the previous close. In our example above Bitcoin would need to fall back to $16,925 to close the gap. Gaps can also close upwards. If for example Bitcoin closes on a Friday at $19,000 and re-opens on Sunday at $16,000, many traders would expect the price to go back up to $19,000 to “fill the gap”.

Keep in mind that trading is probabilistic, not deterministic in nature. This means that chart patterns and indicators can show you what is most likely to happen, but they cannot tell you what will precisely happen. The Bitcoin CME gap should be considered as one such indicator!

The CME gap doesn’t necessarily have to fill, it is just more likely to fill than not. Filling the gap can take hours, days, or even weeks. Other indicators must be taken into consideration as well when deciding on your next trade.

You can purchase bitcoin on the  Binance ,  Coinbase ,  Kraken ,  and  Bitfinex crypto exchanges.

Being able to tap into different markets worldwide requires you to often use an online broker. Long gone are the days where you needed to call your broker and place a trade over the phone. In today's fast-moving markets, traders and investors can simply access all of their financials with a few clicks. On the other hand, this entails that you'll be trusting this broker with your trading activity. From online safety all the way to fast executions, there are many aspects to look for when choosing a broker. In this article, we're going to look at Etoro, an online broker that managed to establish itself as one prominent broker. In this Etoro review, we're going to see the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So buckle up, grab a drink, and let's see if eToro is worth it to trade cryptos and other assets.

eToro is a social trading platform that started operating back in 2007. When we say "social trading", this means that traders have the ability to look at other users' trade setups, discuss and ask questions in a forum-like community. The platform offers access to stocks, commodities, indices, and crypto. This is done in a CFD setting.

CFDs or contract for difference is a type of trading that allows traders to profit from the price fluctuation of the underlying asset, without owning it. This allows traders to worry less about keeping the asset, and focus more on their trading strategies. Of course, this entails that security and good management is an important factor when trusting a broker. Many traders lost big amounts of money due to mismanagement from brokers in the past. That's why regulators tend to enforce strict measures to make sure that those events don't happen.

It is worth noting that eToro has not only been in the market for more than 14 years but also as valued in their last funding round at around USD 10 Billion. The company is planning to go public, and this alone instigates trust and solid business ethics.

In order to assess whether a broker is good or not, there are a lot of areas to check. Traders always seek a solid platform to trade on, low fees, fast execution, and reliable customer support. With eToro, they seem to nail most aspects. That's why we're going to divide the positive and the negative aspects, while specifically go into the details and break down each area.

• Easy to use Platform: If you are new to the trading game, eToro is the perfect place to start. Their platform is super-easy to use. With a few clicks, you can place a trade with little to no previous experience. It's basically like using facebook for the very first time, but in the trading world.
• Good support: eToro's support team is very professional. They will alway reply with a helpful and tailored response, rather than an automated message.
• A wide variety of assets: Most of the times, you will find a good broker and decide to start trading with them, only to find out after a long KYC process that they don't offer the stocks, crypto or other assets which you were looking to trade. eToro on the other hand offers a wide variety of assets to choose from. Specifically, they offer more than 3,000 instrument to trade from.
• Low deposit requirements: You can start trading with eToro with as low as USD 50. The barriers to entry are too low to ignore. Most of the times, brokers require large amounts to deposit in order to start trading. This defeats the purpose of testing a live account with a broker, and see the real trading experience. With eToro, you can easily do that by depositing a dinner's bill.

• Expensive fees: Yes that's right, when a broker doesn't charge commissions on your trading activities, he's going to probably take his profits from somewhere else. Spreads on eToro are known to be slightly higher than industry standards. But unless you are someone who trades frequently and with high leverage, this shouldn't be a big problem.
• Bad UX for charting: It is true that eToro is a trading platform, but the charting tools that they offer has very bad UX. Other than it being "ugly", it most of the times lags, doesn't save chart setting and can be annoying for multi-screen traders. It is advisable to chart and do technical analysis elsewhere, and then come to the platform to place trade setups.
• Slippage: Like most CFD brokers, eToro suffers sometimes from slippage. For those who don't know, slippage is the event where a trader tries to open/close a position, but the order fails to be placed. This is most of the times due to abnormal volatility on the market. Although understandable from the broker's side, traders can lose BIG TIME when they decide to close a profitable position, but the market starts falling against their setup and the broker doesn't take their orders.
• Limited leverage: If you are someone who day trades and rely on short-term trades, you will barely find any opportunities with eToro. Because of their low leverage offerings, most trades should aim for the medium to long term. Stocks can maximum be at 20x leverage, while FX are set to 200x for some, and even less for others. For Cryptos, it is around 10-20x at best. On top of that, this is all subject to change overnight with no further notice in times of high volatility in the market.

If you are looking for an easy-to-use platform where you can trade hassle-free, eToro might be a good start for you. Their community is always active and is incentivized to regularly publish good trade ideas. This is thanks to their Copy-trade system that rewards good traders and community influencers with a percentage of the profits from their following, from eToro's profit share. Additionally, their low barriers to entry make it attractive for first-time traders to tap into the investment world.

If you are looking to start your trading journey with eToro, click here!

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Cryptocurrency is moving sporadically and staking its claim in the finance sector, even if some people still see it as a fluke. One of the reasons why the adoption rate has skyrocketed over the last few years is the ability of traders to earn massive amounts of returns on their investments. A typical example was Bitcoin's huge move to clock $20,000 at the end of 2017, despite the relatively unknown coin starting the year trading around $1,000. In this article, we will be looking at factors to consider before choosing a crypto broker.

As sweet as holding and trading cryptocurrency is, traders have often employed the services of various brokers to actualize their dreams of making profits in the market. Crypto brokers or exchanges are usually platforms or websites that allow traders to buy or sell crypto for trading or storing. Crypto brokers vary in the services they offer to their clients in aspects such as deposits, withdrawals, and fees charged for transactions carried out on their platforms.

One of the most important decisions every budding trader has undergone is choosing the right crypto platform to carry out their activities on. Making a wrong decision might eventually discourage a trader, leading to dire consequences and ugly incidents. To pick out a perfect crypto broker, a trader would need to know what kind of service they want and if the said crypto broker offers the said services. To pick out the best crypto brokers, below are some of the most important factors to consider:

Every crypto broker has one form of security that distinguishes it from the other, and this is the first basis of choosing the right crypto broker to trade with. One crucial aspect traders need to look out for is if the broker allows them to secure their accounts with 2 Factor Authentication settings. Asides from the usage of 2FA, most crypto brokers store their client's assets in cold storage against theft and hacks, while others choose to use custodial services.

Trading digital assets have never been easy as most traders need to undergo various training before entering into a platform to trade. New traders would need a good crypto broker with a friendly user interface to kickstart their careers. Aside from having an attractive user interface, a crypto broker would ensure that its platform is devoid of any shortcomings in terms of stability. Most often than not, crypto platforms crumble under pressure during intense periods of market volatility as traders rush in to buy and sell their holdings.

Every trader at a point in their career has needed help while trading. Be it the most trivial things or the most complex things, they have at one point, or another called on the customer support of their crypto broker for help. Customer support is the life wire of every crypto broker as their speed in meeting their trader's complaints would determine the number of traders that will continue to use their services. Good Customer support would be accessible to complaints on a 24/7 basis while opening lines for support via various means and in multiple languages.

This is another major factor to consider before choosing a broker in the crypto sector. A lot of upcoming brokers, under the guise of good services, charge some hidden fees for transactions and commissions, thereby robbing most of their users in the process. A good broker would spell out its fees and make them competitive with that of popular and highly rated brokers.

It is imperative to note that even a good broker would seek ways to satisfy its clients regarding deposits and withdrawals. Having an easy and navigable deposit and withdrawal method is the first step to making their client's trading process smoother. A good broker should allow users to use diverse options such as bank transfer, Paypal, Skrill, and other methods to deposit and withdraw funds on its platform.

In conclusion, Even though the factors mentioned above are some of the most critical factors to look out for in choosing a crypto broker, it is safe for anyone who wants to choose a broker to carry out intense research. This is because the market is evolving, and new technologies are making their way into the market.

CFD means 'Contract for difference,' and it's a contract where a trader and a CFD broker exchange the difference between an asset's buying and selling price. Crypto CFD trading enables investors to earn profits through price movements of assets, which they don't own. Buyers and sellers calculate profits through price differences between when they open contracts and when they exit them.

CFD brokers are the link between traders and the financial market. They provide platforms to facilitate trading, and investors use these platforms to access the market. CFDs have grown popular over the years due to the opportunity to go long or short on assets and profit from price differences without buying the security. Interested parties can speculate on various securities or derivatives with CFD platforms, bringing a potential win or loss. When assets gain value, holders can choose to sell them and profit from the difference.

Traders speculate on various assets by predicting a price growth or decline on numerous assets. For example, traders can predict a price growth on gold, and if gold eventually gains value, they would profit on the new price difference. On the other hand, buyers can also go short on assets and profit from the asset if it falls. Going short means that a trader predicts a price fall and sells the asset to buy at a lower price.

It's safe to note that CFDs allow leveraging, enabling traders to control the full position of an asset even if they have not paid the total cost. This is quite different from traditional financial markets like the stock exchange, where you need to pay the total price of an asset to control the full position. Leveraging allow investors to diversify investments and potentially earn more when profits come to play.

Possible losses are also calculated using the total position for leveraging, which means that you could have losses higher than your total deposit, depending on your leverage. Let's say a trader leveraged on USD 300 of Bitcoin and has only paid 5% of the total cost - when profits and losses come to play, it can lead to a large margin for either profit and loss. This is why leveraging is advised for only professional and experienced traders to prevent substantial losses.

The first step to start CFD trading is choosing the market you want to trade on. Some of the markets include commodities, indices, currencies and many others. After choosing your market, the next step is deciding to go long or short. This process needs a lot of research and other trading tools to help weigh the possibility of price growth or decline.

The difference between the price you are buying and selling is the spread, and this step usually determines if you would make profits or not. Selecting your trade size is determined by the instrument you are trading, and you can also decide to leverage and control a position higher than your deposit. When leveraging, all you need is a margin; a margin is a price you need to pay before controlling a full position.

After creating a position, adding a stop loss would help traders control losses when the price difference is not what they speculated on. Although this step is not compulsory, it allows traders to monitor price movements, leading to significant losses. When you want to end the trade, you can easily close your trade. CFDs are not available for some countries, and it's crucial to know your country's stance on the instrument before initiating a trade.

Choosing which cryptocurrency to trade is just a tiny step in a long list of actions to become a seasoned and an established crypto trader. While most traders have had to come up with their unique trading strategies, all of them have, at some point in time has studied the technical analysis of the crypto they planned to trade. One spoiler is that no matter how good you claim to be in reading the technical analysis of a digital asset, there are still significant challenges to overcome. In this article, we will be looking into Crypto trading bear flags and how we can navigate it to increase our earnings in the crypto market.

A Bear flag is defined as a technical pattern categorized by a continuous movement in the downward trend by a digital asset. To capture a bear flag, the digital asset in question needs to make a strong decline move before consolidating in a near upward region followed by another strong decline. With the strong downward movement known as the Pole, the consolidation region is regarded as the Flag.

In layman terms, a bear flag is briefly described as any consolidation in the middle of two strong downward movements on the trend line. A bearish flag is solely characterized by the selling pressure in the market at a specific period. It shows that even though the selling pressure is very much around in the market, traders are still backing the asset to make an upward push.

To identify the Bear flag, a trader must always lookout for the two integral elements that make up the Flag and Pole. While those are essential elements, the volume indicator, and the breakout are also important elements one should look out for on the chart.

To pick out the pattern, one must first find the pole defined above. The pole is determined by the longest downward price decline on the chart. After this point, the Flag would enter the consolidation channel in which the price would look to make an upward movement.

After the consolidation period of the trendline, there are potentially two outcomes; an upward trajectory or a downward trajectory. If the price moves on upward after the consolidation, the flag pattern will not be visible as the previous downtrend would be making a reverse. The trend line needs to make a decline so that the flag pattern will be visible, showing a break below the support level of the Flag.

When a bear flag occurs, most traders in the market use the period to create their sell orders. Traders also use the flag pattern to measure their profits since the pole's distance can be used to know if the price may eventually go downward. Compared to most chart formations, it is easy to read the bear flag pattern when making trades. Most traders use the dynamics in the bear flag pattern to develop ways to boost their profits in the bear market.

To do this, the majority of the traders wait for a close under the Flag's support before choosing to go short on the next candle. Traders also wait for the price to move close to the moving average before they trade the bear flag, as it could make a reverse higher before it gets to the moving average. Instead, traders wait for the price to make a stop at the 20 Moving Average before they look for opportunities to go short.

It is not easy to predict the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but we have a number of indicators that can be of great help. Technical analysis is based on data and provides mathematical models of price action. These data are reflected in graphs and help traders to make decisions. That's why in this article, we'll discuss which cryptocurrency indicators traders are using to make thousands, if not millions!

MYC Trading is an indicator that uses a combination of trend analysis and momentum oscillators to accurately determine when a cryptocurrency will enter a bullish or bearish phase. It is characterized by the trend line, when the price crosses upwards, it indicates that a long signal may be printed, and when the price crosses downwards, it indicates that a short signal may be printed. This indicator provides a recommended entry point.

This technical indicator helps traders identify when the Bitcoin price is too far from its true value and allows the trader to take advantage before the market corrects. It uses a complicated formula to determine whether Bitcoin is overbought or oversold.

BBs function as a measuring oscillator, indicating whether the market has a high or low volatility or even if there are overbought and oversold conditions. Bollinger bands consist of an upper band, a moving average line, and a lower band. The two outer bands react to market price action. They move away from the middle band when volatility is high and towards the middle band when volatility is low.

Therefore, if the price moves above the moving average and above the upper Bollinger bands, the market is in an overbought condition. If the price drops significantly and exceeds or touches the lower band several times, it is an indication of an oversold market, or the price has encountered a strong support level. Therefore, Bollinger bands are suitable for short-term trading.

is used to smooth the price action over a given period. MA is a lagging indicator, which means that it is based on the previous price action. If the short MA crosses above the long MA, it is a bullish trading signal. When the short MA falls below the long MA, then it is a bearish trading signal.

This indicator is trend-following and highlights whether the short-term price momentum is moving in the same direction as the long-term price momentum, and when it is not. It determines if a trend change is approaching.

This is a very important indicator, that predicts possible support and resistance levels for an asset's price action. This happens by dividing the distance between the peak and trough or trough and peak by the phi and other ratios of the sequence.

Many technical indicators and oscillators came to existence for the purpose of predicting market movements, and in this article, you can find some of the most important ones. You can use the indicators to develop new strategies or consider adding them to your strategies. Fundamental analysis is still crucial, so always be on the lookout for any news or community developments. Here are CryptoTicker, we make sure you stay updated ;)