What changes when a bot trades crypto instead of forex

Moving an EA from forex to crypto CFDs looks like a settings change. Same terminal, same order types, same charts. The market underneath behaves differently enough that the risks do not disappear, they move somewhere the strategy is not looking.

No weekend gap, but no weekend liquidity either

Crypto trades through Saturday and Sunday, so the Monday gap that forces conservative sizing on forex mostly goes away. In its place you get thin books at the weekend: wider spreads, sharper moves on smaller volume, and a stop that would be comfortable on a Wednesday getting taken out on a Sunday morning. A bot with no day-of-week filter is trading its worst conditions on autopilot.

The lot is not a lot

On a crypto CFD, one lot might be one coin, or a fraction of one, and the minimum step differs by broker and by symbol. A sizing routine written for 100,000 units of base currency produces something nonsensical here. Check the contract specification for the exact symbol, work out the value of a one-point move, and rebuild the lot calculation from that number rather than adapting the forex one.

Volatility is a different order of magnitude

A quiet day on EURUSD is under one percent. A quiet day on BTC can be three. Any strategy that sets stops in fixed points, rather than as a multiple of recent range, is either being stopped constantly or holding a position with no meaningful stop at all. ATR-based sizing is not a preference on crypto, it is a requirement.

The same percentage risk, on an instrument that moves four times as far, is a different bet entirely.

Holding costs run every day

Crypto CFDs charge swap, and on many brokers they charge it seven days a week rather than five. A strategy that holds positions for days can watch a real edge get eaten by financing that never appeared in a backtest configured with different swap values. Check what your broker actually charges, on your account type, and put those numbers into the test.

Maintenance windows and symbol changes

• Most brokers close crypto for a short daily maintenance window; orders sent then are rejected
• Some list crypto only on specific account types, so the symbol exists on one login and not another
• Leverage on crypto is often reduced without notice during high volatility, which changes margin mid-position

None of these break a well-built EA, but each one produces an error code or a missed trade that looks like a bug until you know it is scheduled.

There is no economic calendar for this

Forex bots pause around scheduled releases. Crypto's equivalents — exchange outages, large liquidations, listing announcements, regulatory headlines — do not arrive on a schedule you can filter. The practical substitute is a hard cap: smaller size, a maximum number of open positions, and a daily loss limit that halts the bot regardless of what caused the move.

Start smaller than you think

We run crypto at roughly a third of the position size we would use on a forex pair with the same account, and we look at the results after a full month rather than a week. The strategy usually works. The sizing almost never transfers.