The best stock trading bots for automated trading

DATE PUBLISHED: SEP 6, 2022
19 MIN
DATE UPDATED: OCT 3, 2023

Start Trading on 3Commas Today

Get full access to all 3Commas trading tools with free trial period

AI Trading Software Review Summary

Trading Bot

Core Features

Pricing

Score

MetaTrader 5

The most prominent tool. Lots of indicators, real-time data, huge community and friendly customer support

Over $2,000 a month (has a free version)

9.7/10

TradeMiner

Graphs Analyzer, custom alerts, quick scan feature

From $97 yearly

7.6/10

Streak

Enhanced backtesting, $13.5B traded volume, provides fairly long trial for free

From $20 monthly

8/10

SwingTradeBot

Over 100 tech screens, Up to 3 tech screens at a time, cheaper than others

From $20 monthly

9.4/10

Algoriz

Built-in brokerage with over 10,000 trading strategies available

From $29 monthly

9.2/10

TrendSpider

Automated technical indicators, pattern & trendline recognition, analyses multiple time frames simultaneously.

From $29 monthly

9.2/10

MetaStock

Forecasting feature, advanced systems marketplace

Depends on options picked

8.8/10

VectorVest

A wide range of stand-alone trading products offered. Each has its own features

From $69 monthly

8.6/10

BlackBoxStocks

Stock screener, chat room, trade alerts, trading courses

From $100 monthly ($30 for the first month)

9.1/10

Tickeron

Simplified learning curve, video tutorials, advanced recognition featuresSimplified learning curve, video tutorials, advanced recognition features

Depends on options picked

9/10

Trade Ideas

Stock screener, trade alerts, charts, simulated trading, automated trading and chat room

From $84 monthly

8.2/10

StocksToTrade

Advanced data feature available, detailed charts, stock screener, and alerts

From $180 monthly

8.8/10

What is a Stock Trading Bot?

A stock trading bot is an automatic trader — a computer program, which can fully or partially replace the broker in stock trading, and with the help of an advanced auto trading bot app, it sets an algorithm repeating the trader's actions, independently monitors necessary indicators, and makes informed decisions to execute deals based on one or more conditions.

In a broader sense a trading bot is a system combining program code, computer and trading terminal. Stock trading robots can differ in the following parameters.

  • restrictions on the deposit and trading platforms
  • behavioral strategy
  • the sequence of changes in the settings
  • mechanisms of shorts, stop-losses, take-profits.

What Are The Advantages of Stock Trading Robots?

Most algorithmic traders are now turning their attention to the stock market, leveraging the advantages of a diverse selection of liquid and trending instruments, which offer higher volatility and potentially higher returns, making it an attractive choice for utilizing an advanced auto trading robot app.

But why robots? You might want to use a reliable trading robot to steadily outperform the market: month after month, year after year, instead of several successful deals. Here’s the list of three key advantages stock market bots provide.

  1. Automated exchange trading. There is no need to constantly monitor charts and indicators on your screens.
  2. Strict adherence to a given algorithm. The algorithm is not subject to emotions like panic, it will perform the required sequence of actions no matter what happens around.
  3. Instant reaction to incoming signals. You barely miss a profitable deal because bots are fairly quick, while operating 24/7 with no days off.

The Best Automated Day Trading Bots

Let's delve into a comprehensive analysis of the top trading bots available on the market and compare the key functions offered by leading bot software for trading.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

MetaTrader 5

Perhaps, the most popular graphical analysis & algorithm trading platforms among professionals. Considering an opportunity of using algorithm trading features of your own design, rented or purchased, MT5 becomes a good pick among other bots.

On top of that, MT4 & MT5 both have a large customer base, making it the biggest algo trading community in the world. The MQL5 forum shows many indicators and robot developers who might want to sell, rent, discuss and help you out with several products.

Many traders have found that MetaTrader 5 simplifies their CFD trading experience compared to other complex platforms, especially with the availability of a user-friendly interface and a mobile app for all major platforms. Furthermore, MT5 offers valuable features such as trading functionality, technical and fundamental market analysis, copy trading, and even free access to automated trading, making it an ideal choice for those interested in tradebot stock strategies.

However, since MT5 lacks some security features, other institutional platforms have. Nothing serious for your funds, but you should steer clear of scammers trying to compromise your data in any way.

TradeMiner

TradeMiner

TradeMiner provides a big dive into historical data for every single stock traded on DJ, S&P500 and NASDAQ 100. Moreover, users can access data related to ETF or separated stock groups. 

You can sort out and filter data to discover which stocks are under or overvalued at the moment, making TraderMiner a great tool to assess your risk/reward ratio and make investment decisions. This feature also embraces futures and forex markets.

Streak

Streak

Streak is a trading bot platform founded several years ago. Even though it’s quite new compared to some other software providers, you can benefit by creating trading algorithms on the platform and backtesting them without any coding knowledge whatsoever.

The platform made over $600 million trading turnover and performed around 23 million backtests at the moment. Some best features include a wide range of algorithms, accurate metrics, and combo baskets including Forex, stocks, and crypto.

SwingTradeBot

SwingTradeBot

The best thing about SwingTradeBot is its technical stock screens. Using those, you can easily access multiple patterns, signals, and indicators, increasing your chances of building a successful algo trading strategy. Moreover, the screens boost your research process significantly, resulting in higher returns per hour. 

However, experienced technical traders might lack the screen customization feature. SwingTradeBot targets proactive technical traders looking for a helping hand with scanning, newbies, or users with average experience. 

Algoriz

Algoriz

Algoriz is a trading platform powered by AI technology that provides opportunities to form trading strategies in a simple manner – by typing in the desired action. AI will turn your words into a specific algorithm that can execute a strategy or test it out using a simulated matching engine. Algoriz allows trading crypto as well.

TrendSpider

TrendSpider

TrendSpider is a stock analysis software provider focusing on charting, alerts, and testing the strategies created. It targets intraday & swing traders and long-term investors. 

Founded back in 2016, the platform features customizable TA, automatic trendlines, charts, indicators, dynamic price alerts, and a brand new concept called raindrop chart. On top of that, advanced backtesting functionality, pattern & indicator recognition, and immersive analysis features make the platform stand out among other products on the market. You can trade U.S. stocks, Forex, and crypto at the moment.

MetaStock (MS)

MetaStock

MetaStock provides stock market technical analysis and charting services with over 300 TA tools available. You can access end-of-day data using MS D/C and make the most of real-time data with MS R/T. Moreover, the add-on called Xenith allows screening news and fundamentals in real time as well.

The platform focuses on forecasting, charting and accurate backtesting for a wide range of markets, including ETFs, Forex, stocks, and debt markets across the globe. 

VectorVest

VectorVest

VectorVest has an extensive product line to offer — VectorVest 7, VectorVest Mobile, RoboTrader, RealTime Derby, Watchdog and ProTrader 7 are all part of the ecosystem. The platform’s idea is to simplify trading by minimizing risks related to the stock market.

The platform has an advanced dashboard, featuring trading signals to buy, sell, or hold your assets based on multiple criteria like market value, timing and macro background. Newbies and more experienced traders might find VectorVest valuable, while seasoned pros should look somewhere else.

BlackBoxStocks

BlackBoxStocks

Founded more than ten years ago, BlackBoxStocks grants access to real-time scanning across stock and option markets. One of the biggest features is that their servers are close to NYSE, NASDAQ, and OTC exchanges — all to avoid signal latency.

Even though BlackBoxStocks do great analyses, that wouldn’t make them unique. Instead, they feature market-average analysis functions complemented by AI and predictive technology for absolutely amazing results. You might expect your bots to tame local volatility and even some mini black swan events, causing larger swings over the short term. 

The platform’s dashboard has built-in alerts in real time, stock scans, popular news & social media feeds, and a fully interactive chart. BlackBoxStocks has a helpful community and a mobile app to make network interaction as smooth as possible. 

TickerTickeron

TickerTickeron uses the quant-sourced marketplace model, providing both investing and trading services. The platform leverages AI and adds human intelligence on top to evaluate the market, build strategies, and execute them afterward. 

The focus group is newbie and middle-tier traders seeking turnkey advisory and portfolio management services. That doesn’t mean experts and crypto advisors can’t benefit from the platform, as they can advise other users via the integrated marketplace. The main drawback is the lack of a user-friendly interface.

Trade Ideas

Trade Ideas

A cloud-based trading software provider, Trade Ideas, analyzes the stock market to share insights with the community. The company has over a 10 year long story of development, constant improvement and steady results. 

Some recent updates include streaming alerts, trade automation and simulated trading. They continually release improvements and offer one of the best AI stock trading software solutions for retail traders, especially skilled ones. 

The exclusive channel bar feature implies experienced traders can access themed channels to easily view any type of market environment, while newbies can use the idea surfing stock coloring feature to start off easily. If you’re a new to trading, the idea surfing function will showcase you stocks and situations that you would have otherwise not seen. Mousing over to a chart pauses idea surfing to let you investigate the chart further.

StocksToTrade

StocksToTrade

StockstoTrade is a fully-fledged charting, TA, and stock-scanner platform that has been rolled out several years ago. Even though this option might cost a penny, it provides some deep data insights called Level 2. Moreover, their stock scanner does an amazing job spotting potential breakouts, which is a good feature for technical traders and scalpers. 

What Is Better to Use a Trading Bot for Crypto or for Stocks?

Both crypto and stock trading robots tend to use similar strategies. As a result, it’s not a type of bot which you should focus on to yield higher returns, but the strategy it follows. Crypto & stock trading bots usually stick to one of the following strategies:

A bot’s task is to determine the moment to open a position based on the downtrend or uptrend for long periods of time, and at the upcoming reversal to fix the profit. The opposite process is called anti-trend trading — when a bot buys and sells on corrections and pullbacks.

Scalping 

A short trading session with an emphasis on the maximum price levels, using which the algorithm creates an order with Take Profit and Stop Loss. The duration is around half an hour, the profit from one transaction is small, but it’s multiplied by the significant number of sessions.

This explains the high popularity of this very risky strategy. A robot scalper can "borrow" and earn up to 1,000% in a year. But higher profitability means higher risks.

Gap Trading

The gap or channel strategy is considered flexible. Trading is done within the specific price range. A bot picks up assets on bottom and sells them closer to potential breakouts (highs)

The undoubted advantage is the low risks, in addition, the stop-loss serves as insurance in case of taking over the minimum level. However, bots struggle to automate this strategy fully, as a trader has to set range boundaries manually each time. Half-automated bots can be used, though.

Grid Trading

Grid strategy is based on trading with pending limit orders. The zero point is the current market price from which the orders are set at an equal distance, but in opposite directions. In this case, the bot is quite effective because it takes lots of time to build a grid manually.

Indicator Trading 

This strategy is used when a fundamental analysis can be effectively applied. Trader analyzes the market to set up the strategy based on core indicators like RSI or BB. Even though a trader can give bots a head start, they still lack intelligence and might fail if the market falls into a spin.

Conclusion

In this rapidly evolving world of finance and technology, the advent of stock trading bots has revolutionized the way we approach the financial markets. We've taken an extensive look at some of the best stock trading bots available in the market today, each with its unique features and capabilities. From MetaTrader 5's robust trading community to Trade Ideas' innovative AI-driven insights, these bots offer a diverse range of tools for traders seeking to automate and enhance their trading strategies.

As we conclude this exploration into the realm of automated trading, it's clear that the advantages of using stock trading bots are compelling and have garnered the attention of traders and investors alike. The landscape of financial markets is becoming increasingly complex, with rapid changes in market conditions and an ever-growing pool of financial instruments to choose from. In such a dynamic environment, the role of automated trading bots cannot be understated.

One of the most significant advantages of stock trading bots is their ability to execute trades with precision and speed. These bots operate 24/7 without the need for breaks or sleep, ensuring that opportunities are never missed due to human limitations. They adhere strictly to predefined algorithms, eliminating the influence of emotions such as fear and greed, which often lead to impulsive and irrational trading decisions. With automated bots, traders can maintain a disciplined approach to trading and reduce the risk of costly errors.

Moreover, stock trading bots provide traders with the ability to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time. They can scan and process multiple technical indicators, patterns, and trends simultaneously, providing traders with valuable insights that would be impossible to achieve manually. This data-driven approach allows traders to make informed decisions based on a comprehensive analysis of the market, increasing the probability of success.

The availability of a diverse range of trading strategies is another compelling reason to consider using stock trading bots. Whether you prefer trend-following strategies, scalping, gap trading, or indicator-based approaches, there is a bot tailored to your specific trading style. These bots can execute your chosen strategy consistently, allowing you to focus on refining your trading approach and adapting to changing market conditions.

One key takeaway from our exploration is that the choice between trading stocks or cryptocurrencies is not as crucial as the strategy employed. Both types of assets can be traded effectively with the right bot and strategy. It's essential to align your choice with your risk tolerance, financial goals, and expertise in the respective market.

In the end, the decision to incorporate stock trading bots into your trading toolkit should be guided by your individual preferences and objectives. These bots are powerful tools that can enhance your trading capabilities, but they are not a guarantee of success. Like any trading approach, there are risks involved, and it's essential to thoroughly research and backtest your chosen bot and strategy before committing real capital.

As we move forward into an increasingly digital and data-driven future, the role of stock trading bots in the financial markets is likely to expand further. The continuous advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will only enhance the capabilities of these bots, opening up new possibilities for traders and investors.

In conclusion, the best stock trading bots we've explored in this article represent a diverse array of options, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The key to successful automated trading lies not only in choosing the right bot but also in developing a sound trading strategy and risk management approach. With the right combination of technology and strategy, stock trading bots can be valuable tools for achieving your financial goals in the dynamic world of finance.

FAQs

  • Experienced traders use robots to trade on the exchange during stable periods when selecting the appropriate settings using financial analysis methods is possible. This way, bots can surpass humans in terms of efficiency. When the market is under sharp fluctuations, it wouldn't be a mistake to make decisions independently.

  • Since stock trading is one of the most prominent financial markets, the technologies reached it among the first. Stock trading automation spread across markets right after the 2008 housing bubble, and its popularity only grew over time. As a result, you can easily automate your stock trading with bots.

  • A bot is a special program that automates stock trading and monitors a number of indicators to make trading decisions. The software module analyzes the market situation and executes transactions under the specified trading strategy. An exchange robot follows the algorithm and prevents spontaneous emotional decisions.

  • The efficiency of trading robots is confirmed by practice — up to 80% of transactions are made by robots, they are used by beginners and professionals.

  • Trading bots are not any kind of magic pill that will make you rich instantly, but they can be quite profitable over the long run, especially if you follow some specific rules and act accordingly.

  • Bots have three core benefits, making them profitable: there is no need to relentlessly monitor charts and indicators, they stick to a given algorithm no matter what, they never miss profitable deals if strategy picked is well-analyzed.