Ladder bot
How the Ladder bot (Bitsgap's COMBO) opens a futures position, adds to it as the price moves against it, takes profit in steps, trails its stop and re-opens.
A Ladder bot (Bitsgap calls this kind of bot COMBO) is a futures grid that starts with a position. At the start it opens part of your investment at market. Then it places take-profit orders on the levels on the profit side of the price, which close that position in steps, and DCA orders on the other side, which add to the position as the price moves against it. Its stop loss follows the price once the first take profit fills.
A Long Ladder does well when the price swings and drifts up. It does badly when the price falls through its range: every DCA order fills, and the stop closes the whole position at a loss.
How it works
Take a Long Ladder on a coin at 100 USDC, 1x, 1,000 USDC invested, range 90 to 110, 10 levels:
- Start: the bot buys about 500 USDC of the coin at market (the first order share, 50% by default) and places a reduce-only sell on each level above 100.
- The other 500 USDC go to DCA orders: buys on each level below 100. When one fills, the bot places a sell one level higher for the same size. The buy comes back only after that sell fills.
- When a take-profit sell fills, the bot books the profit and places a buy one level lower for the same size, so the level can trade again.
- The first take profit arms the trailing stop: from then on the stop follows the price at the same distance it started at, in whole steps (at least 0.5%, at most every 30 seconds), and never moves back. DCA orders that would sit within one step of the stop are cancelled.
- When every level above has sold and the price is above the range, the position is closed in profit. With Re-open after full profit on, the bot waits for the cooldown (60 minutes) and opens again around the price, with the same width, step and stop distance. It does this at most 3 times a UTC day and never past your Never re-open above price (below, for a Short). With it off, the bot stops. If the first order didn't fill, nothing was bought, so this doesn't count as a take profit: the bot keeps its levels and says so.
A Short Ladder is the mirror: it sells at the start, adds to the short as the price rises, and takes profit as it falls.
The bot never adds margin: everything it opens fits in the investment and leverage you sign. Bitsgap's Ladder can use up to 1.5x extra margin when the price leaves the range; Prow's can't.
The settings
Pick Ladder in the bot type chip next to the panel's title (or Ladder in the Start a bot window). The panel asks for the Direction (Long, or Short on the deepest markets only), the Investment (25%, 50% or Max of the available balance), the Leverage (1x by default, 1x to 3x; 4x and 5x on the deepest markets only; isolated margin) and a Run length (see Run length). The rest is under Manual adjustment:
| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ladder grids | A slider for the number of levels, with the step it gives and the minimum investment. It only goes as far as counts that can run | |
| Lower price / Upper price | 10% below and above the price | The range. At least 4% wide, with the price inside it |
| DCA + grid levels | 20 | 6 to 40 levels in total, split by the price into take-profit and DCA levels |
| Step | From the range and levels | Linked to the levels: the one you edited last stays fixed when you move the range. At least 3 times a round trip's fees |
| Level spacing | Geometric | Arithmetic: an equal price gap. Geometric: an equal % gap |
| Stop loss | 5% below the lower price (Long) | Required. Closes everything at market when hit. Short puts it above the upper price |
| Trailing stop | On | After the first take profit, the stop follows the price at its starting distance |
| Breakeven after a take profit | Off | See below |
| Re-open after full profit | On | Opens again around the price after a full take profit above the range |
| Never re-open above (Short: below) | 1.5 × the upper price (Long) | The range never moves past it. It is the edge of the price range you sign |
Under Advanced, at the end of Manual adjustment:
| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| First order share | 50% | 30% to 70% of investment × leverage opens at the start; the rest funds the DCA orders |
| Wait before re-open | 60 min | Cooldown after a full take profit |
| Re-opens per day | 3 | 1 to 3, per UTC day |
| Take profit | Off | Stops the bot when its total PnL reaches this % of the investment |
| Trailing take profit | Off | Once take profit is reached, stops when the PnL falls back by this % |
| Max loss | 30% of the investment, or more to cover the loss at your stop | Closes at market at this loss. Part of the limits you sign |
There is no trigger price and no "if the price leaves the range" choice: above the range a Ladder stops or opens again, and below it the stop closes it.
What you sign
The limits are the same as a futures grid's, with one difference: the price range you sign runs to your Never re-open above price, so re-opens inside it need no new signature. If a re-open would go past it, the bot doesn't re-open: it says so, keeps its levels and waits for the price to come back. Stop it if you'd rather finish. To trade a wider range, start a new bot. See The Prow Bots key.
Stopping
Stop on the bot's page asks what happens to the position, as for a futures grid: close it at market, keep it with its stop, or keep it without one. See Manage a bot.
Breakeven after a take profit
Turn on Breakeven after a take profit and the first take-profit fill with the price at least half a grid step past the breakeven price (usually the very first take profit; on very fine steps the next one) moves the stop to your average entry plus the trading fees, and the notification says which take profit did it. The DCA orders under that stop are cancelled. Grid orders just above it can still re-fill on the way down and raise your average: the stop then moves up with it, and every later take profit does the same, so the stop never sits under your average. If the trailing stop is on too, it only tightens from there. If the price comes back to that stop, the Ladder closes the rest and stops, and you get a "stopped at breakeven" notification instead of a stop-loss alert. A stop that fills worse than your average entry (a price gap) is reported as a plain stop loss. This switch is not part of the tested settings (run lengths and ready setups), so their figures don't cover it.
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