Crypto futures trading bot
Build a crypto futures trading bot you can test first
A crypto futures trading bot trades perpetual futures by rules: it can go long or short, it pays or earns funding on every open position, and it can use leverage, which brings liquidation risk. Keel builds and runs perp bots on Hyperliquid: you describe the rules or start from a library strategy, backtest them with fees, slippage and funding, paper trade them, then run them from your own account.
By Keel Research Team
Updated October 18, 2026A perp bot from the library
Momentum + Funding Strategy on Hyperliquid- Each day, rank the 30 most traded Hyperliquid perps.
- Score each coin on its 14-day momentum and on its funding rate, weighted 70 to 30.
- Go long the coins that score well and short the ones that score badly.
- Keep the whole book at one times the account, with no extra leverage.
Sharpe
1.90
Return
+124%
Worst dip
−17%
Backtest on Hyperliquid, Aug 2024 to Sep 2026, after fees, slippage and funding.
Before you choose
What Keel does instead
Keel trades perpetual futures on one exchange, Hyperliquid. Every strategy runs there, from your own account.
You describe a rule, or let Keel's AI build it from blocks you can read. You backtest it on real Hyperliquid data with fees, slippage and funding, paper trade it on live prices, then run it on Hyperliquid perps from your own account.
A Keel strategy decides at the close of each bar it runs on. Stops, targets and adds are checked at that close too, never inside the bar. That rules out a few popular bot types, and the table says which.
Signal, Telegram and exchange bots
Not supported. Keel doesn't sell signals, has no Telegram bot, and runs on Hyperliquid only.
Grid bots
Keel can't run a grid. A grid leaves limit orders waiting at fixed price levels and fills inside the bar. A Keel strategy can't place orders at levels it chooses; it decides at the close of each bar. It can run range strategies that buy dips and sell recoveries, and a ladder checked at each bar close.
What to run in a range insteadArbitrage bots
Keel trades one venue, perps only, with no spot leg, so it can't arbitrage a price gap between exchanges. Funding carry is the nearest thing: a funding strategy on one venue, with real market risk.
Funding carryCopy trading bots
Keel doesn't copy other traders. You run your own rule, after you have seen how it tested.
DCA bots
DCA on Keel means a safety-order ladder: add each time price drops a set amount, exit at a gain from the average price, checked at the bar close, on a perp that pays or earns funding. It doesn't buy on a schedule with new cash.
A DCA ladder you can forkPerps for bots
How a futures bot differs from a spot bot
A perpetual future tracks a coin's price and never expires. That makes it a natural market for a bot, which can hold a position for as long as its rules say. A few things make a perp bot different from a spot bot, and a backtest that leaves any of them out tells you little. For the basics, read perpetual futures explained.
Funding
To keep the perp near the spot price, traders on one side pay the other. When longs crowd in, longs pay shorts, and the other way round. On Hyperliquid this is paid every hour. A bot that holds positions for days pays or earns funding the whole time, and on a crowded coin it can cost more than the fees.
Leverage
A perp lets you hold more than your margin. Leverage scales gains and losses by the same amount, and it scales the swings in between, so a strategy that looks fine at one times the account can be unbearable at several times it.
Liquidation
If a leveraged position moves far enough against you, the exchange closes it to protect the margin. The loss is real and the position is gone before your stop or your rule gets a say. The higher the leverage, the smaller the move it takes.
Shorting
A perp bot can short as easily as it can buy. That opens strategies that make money when coins fall, and balanced books that are long some coins and short others.
Strategies people run on perps
Perp strategies with a backtest behind them
These three strategies from the Keel library all trade Hyperliquid perps, and all of them use what a perp offers: all three go short as well as long, and two of them read funding. Each card shows its backtest and a fork button that copies it into your account.
Momentum + Funding Strategy on Hyperliquid
Ranks coins by recent momentum and by funding, then goes long the strong coins with cheap funding and short the weak ones with expensive funding.
Sharpe
1.90
Return
+124%
Max DD
−17%
Funding Carry (Cross-Sectional, Hyperliquid)
Shorts the coins paying the richest funding and goes long the ones with negative funding, roughly balanced long and short, to collect what crowded traders pay, with real market risk.
Sharpe
1.39
Return
+49%
Max DD
−10%
Channel Breakout Strategy on Hyperliquid
Goes long coins that break above their recent price range and short the ones that break below it. Its drawdown shows what a trend bot on perps can go through.
Sharpe
0.96
Return
+127%
Max DD
−40%
A funding-aware bot in full: Momentum + Funding Strategy on Hyperliquid
1
The rules
- Each day, rank the 30 most traded Hyperliquid perps.
- Score each coin on its 14-day momentum and on its funding rate, weighted 70 to 30.
- Go long the coins that score well and short the ones that score badly.
- Keep the whole book at one times the account, with no extra leverage.
2
The same rules, as blocks
Read it from the top. Daily prices and funding rates come in. Momentum and funding are each turned into a score across the coins, blended into one, scaled and capped. The last block turns the scores into long and short positions. Switch to Code to see the same strategy as text.
Configuration
Globalsconfig
target_timeframe1dbar_offset12h
UniverseassetsTop by Volume · HL Perps · 30 assets30 resolved
Executionorders
rebalanceBufferedbuffer_threshold0.2buffer_moderelative+1
Pipeline6 steps
PriceDataLoaderData Loader
Parallel2 branches
momentum
ROCIndicator
period14
CrossSectionalZScoreSignal Transform
carry
FundingDataLoaderData Loader
use_cachetrue
NegateTransformSignal Transform
CrossSectionalZScoreSignal Transform
ForecastCombinerForecast Composer
weights{"momentum":0.7,"carry":0.3}
ForecastScalerForecast Mapper
avg_abs_target10
ForecastCapperForecast Mapper
limit20
ForecastWeightNormalizerPosition Sizer
target_leverage1
Globals(target_timeframe="1d", bar_offset="12h")
Universe(mode="top_volume", top_n=30, market="perp", resolved=["ADA", "AVAX", "BNB", "BTC", "DOGE", "DYDX", "ENA", "ETH", "FARTCOIN", "GRAM", "HYPE", "LINK", "LIT", "NEAR", "ONDO", "PAXG", "PUMP", "SOL", "SUI", "TAO", "TRUMP", "UNI", "VVV", "WLD", "XLM", "XPL", "XRP", "ZEC", "kBONK", "kPEPE"], resolved_at="2026-07-06T18:44:44.532321+00:00")
Execution(
rebalance="buffered",
buffer_threshold=0.2,
buffer_mode="relative",
rebalance_method="to_edge",
)
Pipeline([
PriceDataLoader(),
{
"momentum": [ROC(period=14), CrossSectionalZScore()],
"carry": [
FundingDataLoader(use_cache=True),
NegateTransform(),
CrossSectionalZScore(),
],
},
ForecastCombiner(weights={"momentum": 0.7, "carry": 0.3}),
ForecastScaler(avg_abs_target=10.0),
ForecastCapper(limit=20.0),
ForecastWeightNormalizer(target_leverage=1.0),
], name="momentum_funding_hyperliquid")
3
The backtest
Sharpe
1.90
Total return
+124.2%
Worst drawdown
−16.6%
Trades
7,355
Hyperliquid, Aug 2024 to Sep 2026, after trading fees, slippage and funding, on the default settings. The return includes funding paid and earned on every position. That is the part a spot backtest would miss.
Risk controls
Keeping a perp bot alive
On perps, leverage can end a bot faster than a bad signal can.
Stops are checked at the bar close
Keel strategies decide at the close of each bar they run on. A stop, a target or a trailing stop is checked at that close, not inside the bar, so in a fast move the exit can land well past the level. Pick a timeframe and a leverage that can live with that.
Size by risk, not by conviction
Blocks can give every coin the same slice, size each position by its volatility so a wild coin gets less, or cap any one coin's weight. Several library strategies size by volatility for this reason.
Cap the leverage
A leverage cap block keeps the whole book under a limit you set. Start at one times the account, see the drawdown in the backtest, and only then decide whether you want more.
Watch the funding bill
A funding filter can keep a strategy out of coins where holding is too expensive.
To see how far price can move before a position is closed, try the liquidation calculator, and check what funding costs now on the funding leaderboard.
Before real money, paper trade the strategy on live Hyperliquid prices with simulated fills. You need no wallet for this.
When you go live, the bot trades from your own Hyperliquid account. You approve an agent wallet that can place trades but can never withdraw, and you can revoke it from Keel or on Hyperliquid at any time.
What is the best bot for futures trading?
The one whose rules you understand and have tested with funding included. Template bots are quick to start but hard to test, and code frameworks give you full control if you run them yourself. Keel builds, backtests and runs perp strategies on Hyperliquid, with funding charged in every test.
Can a bot trade perpetual futures?
Yes. Perps suit bots well because they never expire, so a position can stay open as long as the rules say. Keel strategies trade Hyperliquid's crypto perps, long, short or both. Stock, index and commodity perps are HIP-3 markets, and Keel doesn't support them yet. Support is coming soon.
How does funding affect a bot?
Every open position pays or earns funding, every hour on Hyperliquid. A bot that is long a crowded coin keeps paying, and one that is short it keeps earning. Over weeks this can matter as much as the price move, so it has to be in the backtest.
What leverage should a bot use?
Start at one times the account and read the worst drawdown in the backtest. Leverage multiplies that drawdown and brings liquidation closer, and a liquidation happens before a stop checked at the bar close can act. The liquidation calculator shows how far price can move at a given leverage.
Can I test a futures bot first?
Yes, twice. Backtest it on Hyperliquid history with fees, slippage and funding, then paper trade it on live prices with simulated fills and no wallet. Go live only when both look right to you.
Does Keel run bots on other futures exchanges?
No. Keel runs on Hyperliquid only, and has no Telegram or signal bot. Your strategy trades from your own Hyperliquid account.
What does a perp bot on Keel cost?
Building, backtesting and paper trading start free. The free plan paper trades one strategy and runs one live, with a 5 basis point fee on live trades. Paid plans start at $29 a month, run more strategies and lower that fee. Hyperliquid's own trading fees apply as usual. The pricing page has the full limits.
Build a perp bot you can test first
Starting is free. Backtest with funding included, paper trade on live prices, and keep your money in your own Hyperliquid account.