How grid trading works
A Grid bot is a strategy for trading inside a price range. You set the lower and the upper bound, the bot spreads orders evenly between them and trades on its own: when the price falls it buys, when the price rises it sells. The profit comes from the difference between the buy and the sell at each level.
What it is
A grid is a set of price levels between the bounds. At every level the bot keeps one limit order. For a Long grid it looks like this:
- The bot places buy orders at the levels below the current price (and at the level equal to it). The levels above the price stay empty for now — that is not a lost half of the grid.
- The price falls and fills the buy at a level — the bot immediately places a sell order one level higher.
- The price comes back and fills the sell — the level cycle is closed, the profit is locked in, and a buy order appears again at the freed level.
The more the price swings inside the range, the more such cycles there are. The grid does not guess the market direction — it needs a sideways market.
Directions
| Direction | What the bot does | Where available |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Long | Buy grid; profit when the price rises inside the range | Spot and Futures |
| 🔴 Short | Sell grid; profit when the price falls inside the range | Futures only |
| ↔️ Neutral | Buys below the price and sells above it; profit from any swing | Futures only |
On spot you cannot sell a coin you do not own, so only Long works there. For beginners the bot recommends Neutral with a wide range, and on the last onboarding screen — BTCUSDT, a range of ±10 % from the current price, 20 levels.
The step between levels can be equal in money (📐 Arithmetic (uniform)) or in percent (📈 Geometric (percentage)) — see Arithmetic and Geometric modes.
Where it is in the bot
Main menu → 🪜 Grid Bots → ➕ Create Grid Bot. The first time you open the section the bot shows five onboarding screens (buttons ➡️ Next / ⏭️ Skip). The step-by-step wizard is described in Creating a Grid bot step by step.
Example with a calculation
A Long grid on BTCUSDT (spot):
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Range | 60,000 — 66,000 USDT |
| Levels | 11 |
| Amount per level | 10 USDT |
| Total in the grid | 10 × 11 = 110 USDT |
| Grid step | 600 USDT, that is 1 % of the lower bound |
One level cycle: the bot bought coins for 10 USDT at 60,000 and then sold them at 60,600. The difference is 1 % of 10 USDT, that is 0.10 USDT before fees. The exchange charges a fee on both orders — on the buy and on the sell; the rate depends on your fee level on Bybit. That is why the confirmation screen shows the line “Est. profit per level cycle: ~… USDT (after fees)” — an estimate for your own keys.
If the price travelled the same step up and down ten times during a day, that is ten cycles and about 1 USDT of profit on 110 USDT in the grid. If the price leaves the range, there are no new cycles, and the coins that were bought stay in the position.
Before creating the bot it checks the balance: you need roughly the amount per level × the number of levels with a 10 % buffer — about 121 USDT here.
Risks
- The price leaves the range — beyond the bounds the bot stops trading (see Protections).
- Trend — in a strong trend one side of the grid fills completely: every level is bought and there are no sells.
- Funding — on futures you pay a fee for holding the position.
- Liquidation — on futures use moderate leverage.
The bot recommends choosing coins that move sideways and a wide range.