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Creating a Bot

This guide walks through creating a new trading bot in VolatiCloud — from the empty Bots list to a fully configured bot ready to start in dry-run mode. Plan on roughly five minutes from first click to running bot.

Create Bot drawer in VolatiCloud with the Name field filled "BTC Mean Reversion Bot", Mode set to Dry Run, and Strategy, Exchange, and Runner selectors all populated, with the green Create Bot button active in the footer

Prerequisites​

Before creating a bot you need three pre-existing resources:

  1. A Strategy — built in the Strategies section, either via the UI Builder or the Code editor
  2. An Exchange connection — added in the Exchanges section. For dry-run-only testing, you can use a paper exchange config without real API keys
  3. A Runner — the default cloud runner is created for you on signup, so this is usually already in place

Step-by-Step​

1. Navigate to Bots​

Go to Bots in the main navigation, then click Create Bot.

Bots list page with an empty state placeholder and a green Create Bot button highlighted in the top right of the toolbar

The Create Bot drawer slides in from the right with empty Strategy, Exchange, and Runner selectors waiting to be filled.

Create Bot drawer in its initial empty state, with unset Strategy, Exchange, and Runner dropdowns and the Create Bot button disabled until every required field is filled

2. Select Components​

Strategy

  • Choose from your available strategies
  • Only the latest version of each strategy is shown
  • You can view the strategy's backtest statistics before selecting

Exchange

  • Select which exchange account to use
  • The exchange determines which trading pairs are available

Runner

  • Select the infrastructure where this bot will run
  • Each runner has its own resource limits and configuration

3. Configure Trading Settings​

SettingDescriptionExample
ModeDRY_RUN or LIVEDRY_RUN for new strategies
Stake CurrencyThe currency used for tradesUSDT
Stake AmountCapital deployed per trade (currency or percent of balance)50 USDT or 5%
Max Open TradesMaximum simultaneous open positions3

These four settings interact directly with risk: stake × max-open-trades caps total exposure, and stoploss (set on the strategy) determines max loss per position. The risk management blog post explains how to pick defensible values rather than round numbers.

4. Advanced Configuration​

Entry Pricing

  • Configure how entry orders are placed (maker/taker)
  • Set order timeout behavior

Exit Pricing

  • Configure how exit orders are executed
  • Set exit order timeout

5. Create the Bot​

Click Create Bot. The bot will be created in a stopped state — it won't start trading until you explicitly start it.

Naming Your Bot​

Bots are automatically named based on their strategy and exchange. You can rename them from the bot detail page.

Starting After Creation​

After creating your bot:

  1. Go to the Bots list
  2. Find your new bot (it will show stopped status)
  3. Click the Start button (▶)
  4. Watch the status transition: stopped → creating → running
tip

Always run your bot in Dry Run mode first for at least a few days to validate real-time performance before switching to Live mode.

Bot Limits by Plan​

PlanMax BotsLive Trading
Starter2No (Dry Run only)
ProUnlimitedYes
TeamUnlimitedYes

Editing a Bot​

Three settings are immutable after creation: strategy, exchange, and runner. These are core identity fields — to change any of them, create a new bot. This is intentional, because changing the strategy underneath a running bot would invalidate its trade history.

Settings you can edit:

  • Stake amount
  • Max open trades
  • Entry/exit pricing configuration
  • Mode (DRY_RUN ↔ LIVE) — stop the bot first