The cryptocurrency market is currently experiencing a notable increase in the adoption of automated trading technologies, with trading bots emerging as a popular choice due to their capacity to process extensive data sets and execute trades accurately. Cointelegraph has analyzed historical earnings from these bots, alongside the volatile pricing of tokens, while also backtesting various strategies against the traditional buy-and-hold approach to identify which bots perform best and under what circumstances. This analysis aims to help traders select the most suitable bot according to their trading preferences and risk tolerance.
A comprehensive evaluation has been conducted on three categories of trading bots: Telegram bots that operate on decentralized exchanges (DEX), non-Telegram bots that function on both DEXs and centralized exchanges (CEX), and the innovative AI agent bots. When selecting a trading bot, users must consider their objectives, level of experience, and how much risk they are willing to take. In summary, Telegram bots are particularly well-suited for quick trading opportunities, like token launches and memecoins. On the other hand, AI agent bots, such as ai16z or Virtuals, cater to users looking for automated trading with a hands-off approach and an openness to innovative strategies. CEX bots provide the greatest control, ideal for systematic trading methods like dollar-cost averaging (DCA), grid trading, or signal-based strategies.
Understanding Trading Bots and Their Strategies
Trading bots represent advanced automated systems that utilize algorithms to scrutinize cryptocurrency market data and independently execute trades on either centralized or decentralized platforms. Operating continuously, these bots require minimal human intervention, as they analyze vast amounts of real-time and historical market data, including price movements, trading volumes, and order book details.
Employing AI agent trading bots can offer several advantages. Their round-the-clock operation ensures that trading opportunities are never missed, as they monitor markets continuously to adapt to global changes. Many platforms that provide these bots also feature backtesting tools, allowing users to assess the potential effectiveness of various trading strategies using historical data before committing real funds.
Telegram DEX Bots: Quick and Accessible Trading
Telegram bots leverage the popular messaging platform for accessibility and immediate communication to facilitate trades directly on DEXs. Their primary focus is on speed, making them appealing for quick trades, especially in dynamic ecosystems like Solana. Recent protocols have introduced advanced features similar to those found in CEX trading bots, including grid trading, DCA, and limit orders. Bots such as Maestro and Unibot emerged around 2020–2021 and have since introduced sophisticated capabilities like copy trading and arbitrage. By the close of 2023, Solana-based bots like BONKBot and Trojan Bot gained traction for their efficiency in trading memecoins on DEXs.
The major advantage of Telegram bots is their ability to facilitate mobile trading without needing a web browser extension to connect to a wallet, significantly enhancing usability in mobile trading environments. The leading five Telegram bots by trading volume across various blockchains include Trojan, BonkBot, Maestro, Banana Gun, and Sol Trading Bot, with the bulk of trading activity in the past three months occurring on Solana, where all five bots are operational.
While the features of these Telegram bots are largely similar, some, like Maestro and Banana Gun, focus on multichain operations, while others concentrate specifically on Solana. The primary function of Telegram bots is to quickly identify and execute profitable trades, and tracking the profits or losses of individual users can be quite challenging. Notably, some bots like Banana Gun and BonkBot incorporate a revenue-sharing model tied to their own tokens, allowing them to buy back tokens with a portion of the fees they charge, which can serve as a proxy for evaluating bot performance.
Revenue Insights from Telegram Bots
In reviewing the total revenue generated over the last six months, Trojan has amassed approximately $109 million in fees, while Sol Trading Bot has demonstrated the highest median daily revenue when normalizing earnings against total revenue. Both bots experienced a peak in earnings during the memecoin craze in January 2025 but are currently navigating a period of reduced revenues attributable to bearish market conditions. The two Telegram bots that share revenue through their associated tokens, Banana Gun and BonkBot, have seen their token prices fluctuate significantly, particularly with BONK’s notable price surge in November 2024, followed by steep declines amid the broader market downturn.
AI Agent Bots: The Future of Automated Trading
AI agent trading bots are advanced automated systems that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to assess cryptocurrency market data and execute trades autonomously. The term “agent” implies that these bots possess a level of autonomy and decision-making capability beyond the fixed rules that govern traditional automated trading systems. Prominent AI agent frameworks include Virtuals and ai16z. Launched in October 2024 on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, Virtuals Protocol serves as a platform for generating AI agents designed to facilitate various blockchain functions, including trading.
While Virtuals does not solely focus on trading, it enables the creation of AI agents potentially tailored for trading applications. For instance, Aixbt, an experimental AI agent on this platform, monitors social media discussions to extract market insights that may inform trading strategies. Virtuals operates on a launchpad model where agents are tokenized individually, encompassing diverse sectors such as gaming, trading, and entertainment, leading to a focus on AIXBT, which holds the largest market cap among trading agents on Virtuals.
Ai16z, another AI-driven trading fund launched in October 2024, operates on the Solana blockchain and employs advanced AI agents powered by the Eliza framework to autonomously analyze market data, including price trends, social media sentiment, and on-chain metrics. This fund functions as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), allowing token holders to participate in governance and influence trading strategies within a “virtual marketplace of trust.” The AI Marc virtual fund manager oversees the trading activities of the fund, where AI16Z tokens confer ownership and governance rights, with the actions of the agent affecting token value.
When comparing trading volumes, both AI agents peaked in January 2025, with AI16Z achieving $501 million and AIXBT reaching $682 million. Notably, AIXBT’s token price performance was more striking, surging nearly 4,000 times its initial value, while AI16Z’s increase was around 111 times. Even after recent market corrections, AIXBT maintained a price 478 times its initial value, compared to AI16Z’s 6.8 times.
DEX and CEX Bots: Strategies and Versatility
These bots operate on web-based platforms outside of Telegram. Users can trade directly on DEXs via wallet connections or link to CEXs through APIs or simple login options as part of integrated exchange solutions. These platforms provide a diverse range of strategies and greater market access, appealing to traders who prefer the liquidity and reliability of CEXs alongside the decentralized, non-custodial nature of DEXs. Many of these platforms facilitate seamless switching between DEX and CEX, simplifying the identification of price discrepancies for arbitrage opportunities.
Common strategies available on these platforms include grid trading, DCA, and signal-based trading. The DCA strategy involves investing a fixed sum into a cryptocurrency at regular intervals, independent of price fluctuations. This method is designed to mitigate the impact of market volatility by spreading out entry points. Grid bots are oriented toward active trading, systematically buying low and selling high to capitalize on price swings. They establish a grid of buy and sell limit orders at predetermined intervals to profit from price cycles. Grid bots are particularly effective in stable markets with high volatility. Signal bots execute trades based on external indicators, commonly derived from technical analysis or third-party services.
Recent backtesting of trading strategies for popular token pairs, including BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, and SOL/USDT, has yielded varied results. For instance, during a 120-day backtest from September 26, 2024, to January 26, 2025, the market prices for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana exhibited upward trends, yielding buy-and-hold returns of 58%, 23%, and 55%, respectively. The signal bots performed comparably to the buy-and-hold returns for BTC (58.15%), ETH (16.79%), and SOL (48.68%).
In contrast, during a subsequent 120-day period from December 4, 2024, to April 4, 2025, when grid bots were tested, the market was on a downward trend, resulting in buy-and-hold returns of -16%, -53%, and -49%. The grid bots outperformed the buy-and-hold strategy significantly during this volatile market, delivering positive returns of 9.6% for BTC, 10.4% for ETH, and 21.88% for SOL.
Over a longer 180-day backtesting period from October 4, 2024, to April 4, 2025, the DCA bots exhibited mixed results; while underperforming the buy-and-hold strategy for BTC, they vastly outperformed it for ETH and SOL. The differing performances could be attributed to the higher volatility experienced by ETH and SOL during this timeframe, allowing the DCA strategy to effectively mitigate poor timing risks.
Comparative Performance of Trading Bots
In the past six months, Telegram DEX bots like Trojan and Sol Trading Bot have excelled in revenue generation, with Trojan earning approximately $109 million in fees. Sol Trading Bot has demonstrated consistent daily earnings relative to its scale. However, all bots saw revenue peaks during the January 2025 memecoin hype and have since experienced a slowdown due to negative market sentiment. Bots associated with tokens (BANANA, BONK) followed a similar trend, with brief surges in revenue followed by significant drops correlating with broader market dynamics. In contrast, AI agent bots displayed remarkable growth during this same period, with AIXBT achieving a peak price of 4,000 times its original value, significantly outperforming AI16Z at 111 times. Even after market corrections, AIXBT maintained a strong position at 478 times its initial value, while AI16Z stood at 6.8 times.
Volume-wise, both AI agent tokens peaked in January 2025, but AIXBT’s price closely mirrored its volume surge, indicating robust speculative interest. The performance of CEX and DEX signal, grid, and DCA bots underscored the significance of market conditions, with results varying considerably compared to the buy-and-hold strategy. Signal bots aligned closely with the buy-and-hold approach during bullish market conditions, while grid bots thrived in bearish, high-volatility environments. DCA bots displayed mixed outcomes over the 180-day testing period, underperforming for Bitcoin but notably surpassing the buy-and-hold results for more volatile assets like Ethereum and Solana, likely due to their capacity to effectively manage volatility.
Key Insights from the Analysis
This exploration of AI-driven cryptocurrency trading bots highlights the distinctions between Telegram DEX bots, AI agent bots, and CEX/DEX bots, each tailored for specific trader needs and market conditions. Telegram DEX bots are user-friendly, integrated within the Telegram app, and emphasize swift trading of memecoins and participation in token launches. These bots have proven lucrative over the past six months, peaking during the January 2025 memecoin events, though not all offer revenue-sharing mechanisms. The two that do, BANANA and BONK, have struggled in the current bearish climate, suffering sharp declines in token value.
AI agent bots utilize conversational interfaces and AI-driven decision-making to lower entry barriers for users interested in governance or sentiment-based strategies, like those offered by AI16Z’s DAO format or AIXBT’s social media analysis. Although the price of AI agent tokens surged dramatically, recent market downturns have led to reduced trading volumes and lower token prices. These bots represent an experimental frontier, appealing to those who are tech-savvy and prefer a blend of simplicity and automation.
Trading bots operating on DEXs or CEXs provide web-based platforms with a variety of strategies suitable for more seasoned traders seeking rapid execution, multi-exchange access, and intricate configurability. Backtesting results indicate that signal bots yield returns comparable to bullish buy-and-hold strategies, while grid bots excel in volatile downturns, and DCA bots outperform buy-and-hold strategies for more volatile cryptocurrencies.
