How we catch trading robots

A large share of crypto trades aren't made by people — they're made by algorithms. They build positions, spread a big order out over time, provide liquidity, run arbitrage. A human in the tape stands out instantly: irregular trades, varying sizes, no rhythm. A bot, on the other hand, gives itself away precisely by being a bot — a machine repeats itself, and a human almost never does.

What gives an algorithm away

Three things, taken together, point to an algorithm almost without fail.

Identical sizes. A person rarely fires off five trades in a row at exactly $3,015. An algorithm slicing a large position into equal chunks does exactly that — the size repeats with a precision manual trading can't reach.

Strict timing. Trades arrive at even intervals. Not "roughly every few seconds," but with machine regularity. Live flow always breathes: a pause here, a burst there. A steady metronome is a bot's signature.

Runs. One identical trade is a coincidence. Three in a row is already interesting. A long run at strictly even intervals and near-identical size isn't a coincidence — it's a program.

Any single trait, on its own, isn't a verdict. But when all three line up, there's little doubt left: an algorithm is at work in the book.

The three types in plain language

We sort robots into three behavioral types — they look different and mean different things.

Regular flow. The classic: identical size, strict period, long run. Someone is methodically building or unloading a position, trying not to move price. The cleanest and most recognizable type.

Flex. Trickier. The size floats within a band, but the rhythm stays rigid and the run holds steady. This is an algorithm that cares about not revealing the exact size of each chunk yet still works on a schedule. These bots are harder to catch: rules too loose and you catch live flow, too tight and you miss the bot itself. It's a balancing act, and one we spent a long time tuning.

Rush (burst runs). A fast queue of near-identical trades released in a short window. Not slow, methodical accumulation but a sudden dump: someone needs to fill size quickly. You see these as a dense cluster of identical prints back to back.

Why a trader should care

Simple question: why should you care that a bot is working in the book?

Because a bot is intent with scale behind it. Regular flow usually means a participant building a large position in pieces so as not to move price. That tells you the direction of interest long before it shows up on the chart. A sharp rush, by contrast, is urgency: someone is willing to pay for execution speed, and the market may lurch.

Knowing a bot is there doesn't tell you what to do. But it changes the context. A candle that would otherwise look like random noise reads, in the light of a methodical algorithm, as part of someone's plan. And that's a different level of understanding what's actually happening.

What it looks like

Our alert shows the sequence itself — the rhythm we caught:

$3,035 → $3,015 → $3,015 → $3,015

The first trade is slightly larger, then a flat run of near-identical chunks. You see exactly what the detector saw: sizes, order, repetition. No interpretation layered on top, no arrows "up" or "down" — just the fact that a machine is at work here and the data that shows it.

And that's the guiding principle, really. We don't tell you where price will go — we show you what the market is doing right now, more honestly and faster than the eye can follow. A robot in the book is one of the clearest examples: where a person would see chaos in the tape, the detector sees rhythm. What you do with that rhythm is up to you.