Best Automated Crypto Trading Platform Australia Analysis

What is Automated Trading?

Sometimes called algorithmic trading or algo trading, automated trading refers to the use of complex instructions to instruct a piece of software on how to identify trading opportunities, manage risk or open and close a position without you needing to take action directly.

Traders often refer to these algorithms as ‘bots’, and a good one can develop into your day trading co-pilot, generating profits and saving you money while you’re away from the keyboard and unable to trade for yourself.

Automated Trading With Crypto Exchanges

Whatever level of trading experience you have, whether you’re a crypto veteran to crypto-assets or a beginner, the platforms have something for you. More experienced traders will like the diversification offered by allocating a portion of their money for automated trading strategies alongside other strategies.

How Does It Work?

All platforms follow slightly different steps to get the trader up and running. Generally, the trader needs to connect the platform to a cryptocurrency exchange like Swyftx, Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken. This process assumes you’ve already got an account with the exchange, and while you can still open an account with the platform without one, you won’t get the full trading experience.

Your chosen platform provides an indirect way of trading cryptos; you’ll still be able to trade directly on the exchange but doing it via the platform gives you a lot more functionality, including implementing bots. Via the platform, you’ll be able to trade the big crypto names such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin, and many other altcoins and stablecoins.

Usually, your funds are held at the exchange, not with the trading bot, and don’t forget, trades placed on the exchange will still incur trading fees, in addition to any costs the trading platform will charge.

If you’re not ready to pick an exchange or you’re not comfortable trading with real money, there will often be an option to create a paper trading bot. Like demo accounts with forex or CFD brokers, this allows you to test things out first without putting any real money at risk.

Some platforms also support manual trading, so you can use the platform to place trade orders rather than directly on the exchange. You might do this if you like some of the platform’s functionality or prefer its charting options to that provided by the exchange but since we’re focused on auto trading, let’s continue with that.

Once you’ve picked a crypto exchange and deposited AUD or USD or whichever is your preferred currency (assuming it’s accepted), you need to create a bot.

A bot needs a connection between your accounts at the exchange and the trading platform. It does this via an API which is a secure way for both accounts talking to each other. You’ll need to generate and copy private keys within your exchange account and paste them into your platform account. This process might sound more complicated than it is, but it ensures you’ll always have full control.

Once connected, the platform prompts you to add a strategy to the bot – without one, your bot won’t do any trading. The strategy can use technical indicators or chart patterns. If you’re unfamiliar with the terms or you’re in two minds as to which is better, some platforms provide free, in-depth educational resources.

Before implementing the bot live, with real money, you can backtest the strategy on historical data. Backtesting will tell you how your strategy would have performed had it been implemented. The process can involve a lot of trial and error, and a common mistake is to “curve-fit” the inputs to produce the desired outputs. Over-tweaking the strategy can lead to one-off results that aren’t likely to be reproduced in live trading.

If the process sounds a little daunting, or perhaps you don’t know your dojis from your EMAs, most platforms allow you can copy the strategies of more experienced traders (in the same way social trading platform eToro works). Another option is to head to the platform’s marketplace and buy one of the off-the-shelf trading strategies sold by other traders and programmers.

Best Automated Crypto Trading Bot

If you’re not already familiar with automated or algorithmic trading, you may want to brush up on some of the terminology before making a decision about how and where to trade. Likewise, if you’re used to trading forex, contracts for difference (CFDs) or shares, you might find the crypto trading experience slightly different.

While you can trade crypto CFDs with many online brokers, trading crypto directly involves not only opening a broker account but also connecting to a blockchain-based crypto exchange and custody solution, also called a crypto wallet. Also, unlike CFDs, you’ll purchase the actual tokens themselves rather than bet on market movements indirectly.

If you’re interested in crypto but not enough to design an entire trading strategy tailored to such a speculative asset, automated crypto trading bots offer a nice compromise. Rather than committing to primarily trading crypto, you can outsource the work to a sophisticated algorithm that will open and close positions on your behalf in accordance with pre-set parameters. These automated crypto trading robots, sometimes called bots, constantly scan crypto exchanges for opportunities that match your preferences, which makes them a handy source of passive income. Proponents also claim that trading bots improve profits by removing the risk of an emotionally driven decision by a panicked or over-confident trader.

On the other hand, finding a trading bot that matches your precise specifications can take time, and the setup process isn’t as straightforward as for other automated trading tools like expert advisers.

Cryptohopper

While based in the Netherlands, cloud-based crypto trading bot Cryptohopper accepts clients worldwide, including Australia. Founded by computer engineers who also day trade, we were impressed by the depth of knowledge and clear experience that went into creating the Cryptohopper trading experience. Like most proponents of automated trading, the Crypthopper team claims their sophisticated trading bot empowers you to fully automate your trading, effectively removing emotion from the equation.

On a more practical note, Cryptohopper makes opening an account reassuringly straightforward. That’s no mean feat when you consider that using automated crypto trading bots involves creating a trading account with crypto platform or crypto exchange, syncing your crypto wallet and finally hooking up the trading robot. It took us less than 24 hours to complete the process, including connecting to Kraken. We were also impressed by the number of available crypto exchanges. Beyond Kraken, Cryptohopper supports an additional 14 exchanges, including Coinbase Pro and Binance.

Note that you won’t need a credit card or minimum balance to open or maintain a Cryptohopper account, which makes it easy to try out the interface and features before you commit to using it to trade. In the event that you do decide to go forward, Cryptohopper offers a unique, subscription-based pricing model. Rather than pay commissions or spreads on single positions, you’ll choose between four monthly payment plans, each with its own unique combination of features.

A free Pioneer subscription offers you basic functionality, including manual trading, charts and technical indicators, access to the portfolio management dashboard, and trading stats. if you want to experiment with trading bots, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid tier. Likewise, copy trading, social trading and backtesting require that you subscribe. Other features available to Cryptohopper subscribers include price targets, shorting and stop-loss orders.

If you’re new to automated trading, cryptocurrency trading or both, you’ll appreciate the predictable trading fees and tiered features. More advanced traders, however, or traders who rely on volume, may find Cryptohoppers cap on open positions and hefty price tag for high-end trading tools prohibitive.

CryptoTrader

Another cloud-based trading solution, Cryptotrader offers an even more hands-off approach. The company refers to its trading bots as ‘strategies’ and bills itself as more of an asset management solution than a crypto trading tool.

Beyond opening and closing positions, CryptoTrader takes full responsibility for your funds once you entrust them to the company. As with a traditional asset manager, you rely on CryptoTrader’s proprietary strategy to ensure that you see returns.

Be aware that, unlike the asset or portfolio manager you meet at your local bank, CrypoTrader isn’t a licensed financial services provider. That means the company isn’t required to follow certain accounting practices that protect client funds in case of insolvency. (Basically, we don’t suggest you use this as a retirement savings vehicle.) That said, the company consistently reports impressive results, outperforming Bitcoin yearly since 2018.

Best Crypto Trading Platform vs. Best Crypto Trading Bot

Looking for a less labour-intensive automated trading solution? Rather than identifying the best trading bot for your needs and then working to connect it to a broker account and an exchange, you might prefer a one-stop shop that combines all three.

Crypto exchanges, like stock exchanges, are the vast virtual markets for buying and selling tokens. Many also act as brokers, meaning you can open a trading account to gain access to the exchange and make trades via a trading platform. Many of these hybrid exchange-platforms also offer automated trading features.

If you’re new to cryptocurrency trading, we suggest opting for one of these trading platforms to ease your entry into the world of crypto assets.

Best Automated Cryptocurrency Trading Platform

Kucoin Has the Widest Variety of Crypto Trading Bots

Kucoin operates as both an automated trading platform and a crypto exchange, which means you can buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies all in one place. You’ll open a single account, connect it to your crypto wallet or other funding method and start trading instantly – no need to jump through hoops to access a separate exchange.

That said, if you prefer to trade through another exchange like Coinbase or Kraken, Kucoin allows you to do so. Be aware that, in that case, your trading fees will depend on your chosen exchange.

For simplicity and cost-effectiveness, we found that Kucoin more than met expectations. It’s free to open an account, and the platform doesn’t require a minimum account size to trade via its exchange.

In addition to Bitcoin trading, cryptocurrency trading enthusiasts can choose from over 70 crypto assets, including some of the world’s most popular and valuable tokens. We were also intrigued by some of Kucoins more innovative features like margin trading, leveraged tokens and the Halo wallet, a crypto wallet customised for social trading.

Regarding automated trading, Kucoin boasts over 12 million custom bots created worldwide and will even teach you how to design and operate your own via its Bot Tutorial Center.

Crypto CFD Platforms

As we mentioned above, the main difference between a crypto exchange and a crypto CFD trading platform is ownership. When you trade a CFD, you, don’t actually ‘own’ the asset you’ve bought. Instead, you ‘own’ a contract wherein you and your counterparty (usually, your broker) agree to pay one another the price difference for a certain asset after a set period of time. Just like stock trading, you aim to profit by correctly predicting market movements. Unlike stock trading, you don’t actually buy any shares, tokens, commodities or options.

Depending on your viewpoint, owning the crypto CFDs rather than the crypto itself can be good or bad. Later in the page, we list some of the most compelling reasons to consider crypto CFDs rather than crypto assets. Right now the most important consideration is that the Australian Securities Investment Commission regulates CFD brokers that offer their trading services to Australian traders.

Crypto exchanges, by contrast, are not regulated by ASIC. While this doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t use a crypto exchange, it is something to be aware of.

If you decide to trade crypto CFDs rather than the actual tokens themselves, you’ll still have the option to automate your trading with a range of platform-specific tools.

Expert Advisors

Expert Advisors (EAs) are programs that run on the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5) trading platforms, which you can use to automate many of your trading routines from technical research to execution of trades. As a trader, you can spend hours scanning dozens of price charts every day, looking for things like candlestick patterns or moving average crosses. Doing this manually is time-consuming and prone to errors, so why not automate them using an EA?

An EA can monitor prices, technical indicators, or candlestick patterns 24/7, and if specific criteria are met, the EA will send you alerts. As a next step, if you choose to do so, EAs can automate the execution of trades. As we’ll come to later, this is a similar set of steps to creating a trading bot, and like bots, traders can build EA themselves or buy one off the shelf made by someone else.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) And MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

Expert advisors are found on MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, which are owned and managed by MetaQuotes. MetaQuotes licenses the use of their MetaTrader trading platforms to CFD brokers,, who then offer it to traders (usually for free). The MT4 and MT5 platforms sit between the trader and the CFD broker, so while you can use either platform for analysis and research, the Australian FX broker is responsible for trade execution and the trader’s trading funds.

Both MT4 and MT5 platforms have become synonymous with automated forex trading, which is made possible through expert advisors. The non-stop nature of the forex markets means that the MetaTrader platforms have proven themselves, making them the ideal choice for crypto traders. While the MetaTrader 4 brokers usa came first, it would be wrong to think it’s inferior to MT5. MT5 indeed has some more advanced features; MT4 continues to be a more popular trading platform than MT5 due to its reputation as one of the best mainstream platforms in the market.

The MT5 platform was developed to access more markets and offer more features to traders. The coding syntax of MT5 is on par with C++ and has several functions to analyse quotes, manage positions and technical indicators, etc. Like MT4, MT5 offers the ability to run EAs and copy trading.

If choosing between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 for cryptocurrency trading, then it is suggested you choose MetaTrader 5. MetaTrader 5 is designed for decentralised and centralised trading, meaning it is good for all trading instruments regardless if a central exchange is needed (as is the case with shares). For this reason, you will find some brokers offer a larger range of crypto options with MT5 as opposed to MT4.

Both MetaTrader trading platforms are available on all Windows PCs, Apple Mac, Android, and iOS Mobile apps, and all browsers (using WebTrader).

Pros of Using a CFD Trading Platform

Unlike buying and selling cryptos via an exchange, when trading CFDs, there’s no asset to store, so there’s no need to learn how to use hard or cold wallets. Another benefit of the lack of storage is that because there’s nothing to lock away, you don’t have to worry about losing access to your cryptos because you’ve forgotten the access codes to your cold wallet or a hacker from a far-off place breaking into your exchange.

There’s also a strong argument for CFDs over exchange trading on the basis of speed. While depositing and withdrawing money is pretty much the same, the speed and ease of opening and closing trades are in favour of CFDs, especially when the trader needs to transfer their cryptos from cold wallets before they can offload them.

Another factor to consider is the blockchain and the risk of negative slippage (the risk that the trader is filled at a worse price than they had anticipated). This can happen when there’s high volatility and significant trading volumes. Major exchanges have been known to see large delays in confirming fills, partially because of the time the blockchain took to confirm the transaction.

One of the most important considerations for Australian traders and something that might tip them towards CFDs is regulation. The ASIC has regulatory oversight for CFD trading in Australia, which means that brokers can legally offer services to clients. With this oversight comes peace of mind for traders, something that many exchanges will find hard to match.

Additionally, regulatory rules mean that client funds must be segregated from the rest of the brokerage. Even if the brokerage becomes insolvent, client funds can’t be touched.

One of the big advantages of CFD brokers is that trading platforms offer a greater range of tools and indicators compared to crypto exchanges. Charting functionality is often limited with exchanges but CFD traders can access a wide choice of charting tools, allowing for superior technical analysis.

Don’t forget that while crypto exchanges will only offer, well, cryptos, CFD brokers offer the ability to trade across a large range of asset classes beyond cryptos, including stocks and commodities. A big part of risk management is diversification – trading multiple asset classes, so it can make perfect sense to do this on the same platform.

Talking of risk management, CFD platforms offer tools like stop-loss orders, and all ASIC brokers must provide negative balance protection. Given how volatile cryptos can be, especially if you’re trading with high leverage, negative balance protection means you’ll never lose more money than you have in your account.

On the subject of leverage – yes, being able to maximise the money you have can be risky but used in the right way, leverage adds extra juice to your profitable trades. When it comes to cryptos Best Automated Trading will offer leverage of up to 20 times your capital – that’s not always the case with crypto exchanges. As well as leverage, CFD brokers usually offer very good customer service, often with a phone number for you to call or if you prefer, an online chat function. Quick access to support like this can be a lifesaver when you have an account or trading-related queries.

One final consideration, and one where most CFD brokers excel, is trader education. Both beginner and seasoned traders can benefit from Education Libraries that brokers include for free.