Dev tools · September 12, 2025
I built a Bitcoin DCA bot – here's why
I started DCA’ing into BTC many years ago. I kept missing buys, buying emotionally into pumps, and forgetting during chop. So I wrote a simple script that hit an exchange API once a day with a fixed amount. Friends asked to use it, so I generalized it and added a DB to manage multiple users. Why I didn’t use existing tools: Most options I tried were either locked to one exchange or did fixed-amount DCA with naive execution. I wanted multi-exchange support and a way to scale buys during dips and preserve capital during rips. I also kept running into inconsistent API rate limits and…
What it does
In the maker’s words, at launch
I started DCA’ing into BTC many years ago. I kept missing buys, buying emotionally into pumps, and forgetting during chop. So I wrote a simple script that hit an exchange API once a day with a fixed amount. Friends asked to use it, so I generalized it and added a DB to manage multiple users. Why I didn’t use existing tools: Most options I tried were either locked to one exchange or did fixed-amount DCA with naive execution. I wanted multi-exchange support and a way to scale buys during dips and preserve capital during rips. I also kept running into inconsistent API rate limits and small-order quirks, which made me prefer building. Why turn it into a service: At first it was just JSON configs on my machine. More friends kept joining. I added a basic self-serve UI so I wasn’t SSH’ing to change params. Hosting costs stayed small, but my time did not. At that point it made sense to package it. “multiplier DCA”: Instead of buying a fixed amount on a schedule, the bot computes a multiplier in the range 0.1–3× and scales the order size. During dips it buys more; during euphoria it scales back or skips. Inputs include standard indicators plus some AI and social context; guardrails cap the multiplier and enforce cool-downs so you don’t blow a week’s budget in the first leg of a dump. The goal isn’t to “time the bottom,” it’s to shift size a bit toward better prices without starving future buys. Results so far (caveats included): On a public, static backtest over the last year, the multiplier approach accumulated ~30% more BTC than fixed DCA, with slightly higher total spend. Backtests aren’t reality; live trading taught me to add pacing and cool-downs. Tech stack and latency: Watcher → queue → workers. Node.js services with AWS DynamoDB/Aurora for state, SQS for queues, Lambda workers for execution. Typical timings: ~20 ms to scan, ~10 ms to enqueue, ~100 ms–2 s for the trade depending on the exchange. We didn’t optimize for HFT; this is DCA, not microsecond arbitrage. How long it took: The first script is ~6 years old. The multiplier engine grew out of a friend’s suggestion to size into dips. I iterated for years, added a UI this year, and opened it to more friends. https://dca.bot I’m here for feedback and AMA—architecture critiques, multiplier design, failure modes, exchange abstractions, whatever’s useful.
Does the same job
all alternatives →- IBI built a platform for scripting your own Bitcoin trading bot in Python2014 · ▲8
Hello HN. I built my own automated Bitcoin trading bot and noticed that many others want to do the same thing, but lack the coding skills required for the harder stuff, like order execution and backtesting. I like the idea of making automated trading more accessible to existing day traders as well as newcomers. Hopefully this will also inspire some people to learn to code. We’re currently in private beta, but please check out the site below. Feedback is more than welcome. http://tradewave.net
- CBCointrol – Bitcoin trading bot written in Python2015 · github.com · ▲64
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Hey everyone! We're the folks from Codelitt Incubator. We pay several of our employees either entirely or partially in BTC. This is a huge pain every month when we run payroll. Normally it consists of a wire to Bitstamp (which includes a steep fee), buying the BTC on Bitstamp, sending to our company wallet, collecting receiving addresses, and then paying our employees. Because of this we're building a dead simple BTC Payroll. Our main goal is to make it easy for you to request that your employer pays you in BTC (partially or completely). We don't hold any money nor Bitcoins. It all happens…
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