Beginners Guide to Margin Bitcoin Bot: Complete Review
Margin is a Bitcoin trading platform that incorporates a comprehensive range of features including visual trading and a configurable GUI that enable its users to optimize their Bitcoin trading activities.
The platform allows anyone to use automated trading strategies that can be employed around the clock, remove emotion from their trading, and to customize and automate their strategies via the use of a wide range of trading bots.
The platform is fully downloadable and works via API connections to over 15 leading cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Gemini, Kraken, and KuCoin.
To get started, you can select a license plan, create an API key pair on your exchange account, download Margin, and then select your preferred exchange and input your full API key and secret to login.
For anyone looking to test the platform before committing to a paid plan, it’s possible to download a demo version of Margin and use it extensively before upgrading your membership.
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Margin.de Overview
Margin was formerly known as the Leonardo automated crypto trading bot and the team state that they have been powering Bitcoin trades since May 2014. Leonardo generally disappeared towards the end of 2017, and the protocol has since been purchased by Margin, and the team have integrated many of Leonardo’s bots and key features into their own trading system.
In addition to providing a robust Bitcoin trading platform, the Margin team are also highly professional, and transparent in nature with their information and company structure freely available to view online.
As can be gathered from their website address the project is based in Germany, and the company retains a business address at Goldstrasse 9, 33602 Bielefeld, Germany. The team includes co-founders Jonathan Maycock, Christof Elbrechter, and René Tünnermann who set out to build an easy to use, yet powerful trading terminal, and Margin incorporates a clean layout alongside strong security and a comprehensive range of effective trading bots.
Margin also supports a wide range of leading cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, Huobi, Kraken, KuCoin, and Poloniex.
The application can be run on Windows, macOS and Linux and also provides access to a wide variety of popular technical indicators such as MACD, RSI, EMA, VWAP and Bollinger Bands. The team have provided a demo version which can be downloaded and trialled extensively before moving on to paying for full access, and the Starter plan requires a one-off payment of $129 and offers unlimited bots and all technical indicators on a single exchange (with a max balance of $10,000).
After upgrading to a paid plan, you gain access to the two algorithms that proved popular with users of Leonardo, namely the Ping Pong strategy and the Margin Maker strategy. These allow you to set buy and sell prices and easily get started or to trade according to price action and Margin provides a robust service for traders of all levels.
Key Features
- Functionality – Margin operates as a desktop trading application which supports Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. The protocol is well designed and features a configurable GUI that can be used for a multiple monitor setup, as well as light and dark theme options.
- Technology – The platform supports around 17 cryptocurrency exchanges, and anyone can set up automated trades via API integration. Margin also incorporates a range of cutting edge features including visual trading, drag and drop order functionality, in chart RSS feeds, a smart order router, and API encryption and hashing.
- Range of Tools – The platform incorporates the previously popular Ping Pong and Margin Maker strategies which allow anyone to get started quickly with varying levels of complexity. Common market and limit order options are available as are technical indicators such as Bollinger Bands, the Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD), the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Volume Weighted Average Strength (VWAS), and the Exponential Moving Average (EMA).
- Paid Plans – The demo version of the platform can be downloaded and used for free, while the Starter plan is available at a price of $129. The Standard plan is available for $259 and provides access to an unlimited number of bots as well as all technical indicators and supported exchanges. The Professional Plan is priced at $2999 and includes features such as unlimited balances and multiple APIs across exchanges.
- Customer Support – The team behind Margin are one of the most transparent in the world of automated crypto trading platforms and can be contacted by submitting a ticket. The team can also be contacted via their Twitter account, Discord group, and Facebook The official website also contains an FAQ Section, and a series of video tutorials which explain how to use the platform effectively.
How to Get Started on Margin
1) Register an Account
Before downloading the Demo, you are required to register an account on Margin.de, and you need to enter an email address, create a password and enter your name and location before moving on. You will then need to activate your account by clicking the link in the sent email. When this is done you will gain access to the download link.
2) Download the Demo
You can then download the version suitable for your operating system and Margin supports Windows with 64 and 32 bit versions available, macOS from every version of 10.12 Sierra onwards, and Ubuntu Linux.
Previous Margin releases are also still available for download which will run on older versions of the previously mentioned operating systems. However, the team recommend using a setup which incorporates at least 4GB RAM, a Core 2 Duo processor and a HD display for Windows, macOS and Linux systems. While you can run margin on lower spec machines (e.g. 2GB RAM with a 720p display) it will restrict the number of pairs/bots that can be run effectively.
The demo provides access to:
- Margin’s advanced bots: Bollinger Band, EMA, mArginmaker and ping pong
- Intuitive GUI with drag-and-drop orders and multi-window trading views
- Technical indicators: Bollinger Bands, MACD, RSI, EMA, VWAP etc.
- Free full featured paper trading practice facility
3) Go Live
When you are ready to upgrade to a paid plan, you will need to choose a license, create an API key pair on your exchange account and submit the first half of the secret from the pair to Margin.
When you have submitted your API key info, you need to choose the exchange you want to trade on and then input your full API key and secret to login.
To simplify the process, the team have created the following video tutorial on getting started.
Margin Price Plans
The demo version of the platform can be downloaded and used for free, and the Starter plan is available at a price of $129. This includes to an unlimited number of bots and all technical indicators for use on one exchange with a maximum balance limit of $10,000.
- The Standard plan is available for $259 and provides access to an unlimited number of bots, all technical indicators and all supported exchanges with a maximum balance limit of $100,000 per exchange.
- The Professional Plan is aimed at the most dedicated traders and is priced at $2999 and improves on the Standard plan by including features such as unlimited balances and multiple APIs per each exchange.
Margin currently offers a number of different payment options, including Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.
How Secure is Margin?
The team behind Margin take security seriously and make use of a variety of methods to ensure the safety of their system. These include the use of SHA 256 encryption and users can also encrypt their API keys by clicking on the lock icon in the login screen and following the instructions.
In addition, the team only store half of any two part API-key pair on their servers and each part remains hashed and encrypted.
The team essentially store just a quarter of a two part API key pair on their servers to ensure that members are paid up customers, and in the event that company servers became compromised, the information held wouldn’t enable hackers to be able to do anything malicious.
Furthermore, orders are also not routed through company servers and Margin connects directly to exchange accounts via an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows it to interface with exchanges, monitor price and account balance data, and, carry out buy and sell orders.
As a result, no one at Margin has any knowledge of your trading patterns, and the instances where the team require communication between your copy of margin and their servers are as follows:
- To check if you are on the correct payment plan
- To retrieve history data which is not available from the exchanges
- To check whether there is an updated version of Margin available
As is common practice for the vast majority of trading bot platforms, Margin doesn’t require you to transfer any funds to your account, and the application does not have access to your funds.
Despite this, the team still advise their users not to not enable withdrawals on their API keys so that it’s impossible for funds to leave any linked exchange accounts.
Finally, the desktop application is also compatible with a VPS or VPN and Microsoft Remote Desktop can be used to connect to your preferred VPS or VPN instance. This way you can continuously monitor exactly how Margin is trading from your PC, phone or tablet, and you won’t need to leave your laptop continuously running.
It’s worth noting that you:
- Should not to run two instances of Margin in parallel and connect to an exchange with the same API key pair.
- Should make sure to set your VPS instance to the same time as the PC/laptop on which you are running Margin, if not your API keys might not work.
- Should make sure your API keys do not have withdrawals enabled.
- Should make use of Margin’s encryption tool in the login screen to encrypt your keys and provide an additional layer of security.
Also data usage when connecting to your VPS instance using a phone or tablet is usually quite high so take this into consideration when using a mobile data plan.
How Beginner Friendly is Margin?
As a desktop trading platform that needs to be downloaded and run from your PC, Margin may take some time to get used to for anyone new to using trading bots, however, the team have made a number of written and video resources available to help guide people through the process. In addition, they are available in their Telegram and Discord groups alongside community members who also possess valuable knowledge and experience.
It’s worth remembering that the Demo version can be downloaded and tested out extensively for free, and includes the mArginmaker and ping pong strategies, advanced bots, a range of technical indicators, and a full featured paper trading practice facility. This allows anyone to get started and spend significant amounts of time testing the application in order to get to grips with it before moving onto a paid plan.
Margin also makes use of well designed user interface and the configurable GUI allows users to select the layout that suits them best, and the visual trading feature allows you to drag-and-drop orders into charts or to hover over a trade to immediately see the gains realized, and RSS feeds are also rendered in-chart to provide an up to date news stream.
Despite aiming to be user friendly, Margin probably has more appeal for intermediate to advanced users and the full range of technical indicators on offer, advanced bots, the ability to view up to 25 markets simultaneously on a second screen, and smart order routing will come in handy for more experienced and highly active traders .
All in all, the application is quite accessible as the demo is available for free, and the Starter plan is available for a one off payment of $129. The Standard plan is available for $259, and anyone new to trading could easily use the demo to get used to using more straightforward strategies such as the Ping Pong Strategy which involves simply setting the buy price and sell prices at which the bot will aim to execute at.
How to Use the Static Ping Pong Bot
The Ping Pong Strategy is one of the most popular trading strategies available on Margin and is also one of the most straightforward to use. The static ping pong bot places limit orders and you can get started by clicking on the strategy button (chess knight with +) to create a new bot.
It will initially default to an effective gain of 0.1% around the spread. In order to select your desired prices you can click and drag the buy and sell price lines, and the bot will wait until its order is fully filled before switching actions to then place a limit order on the opposite side.
In the following illustration, a limit buy order has just been placed and the bot is waiting for the order to become active. A limit sell order for the same amount will be placed on the opposite side when this order gets filled, and in this example an effective gain of just over 3% has been specified.
It’s worth remembering that the bot will continue to trade until you explicitly stop it.
How to Use the Margin Maker Bot
The Margin Maker Strategy is another popular trading strategy and the margin maker bot is a dynamic bot that places limit orders. This bot is more advanced in nature, and allows you to set a number of parameters, for example, the ‘time window’ is set by dragging the long vertical blue line (the thin blue line in the middle of the chart running from top to bottom) to determine the desired time period.
The vertical height of the time window is given by the lowest and highest priced trades that occurred during that time.
The relative buy and sell margins (dashed red horizontal lines) can be set inside this window, and the vertical height of the window changes accordingly, as the lowest and highest trade price changes over time.
This also means that the buy and sell margin prices will change, and as the market contracts, the prices get closer to each other. This also means that the initial Eff. gain* shown in the centre of the time window will also change.
The Min. effective gain [%] parameter applies to both buy/sell and sell/buy cycles here. It is always active, with the default value being 0.0%. In order to ensure that the bot makes a gain once trading fees have been subtracted, a positive value must be given. It’s worth noting that a bot order can get stuck at a particular price so as to not violate the Min. effective gain.
A Stop loss can be enabled and then adapted in the chart, and when a stop-loss event occurs, the bot will accept the loss by triggering a spot sell order and then stopping its trading activity.
Pros
- Transparent Company and Team
- Modern and Configurable GUI
- Extensive Exchange Support
- Free Demo Version
- Wide Range of Options for Advanced Traders
Cons
- Only Supports Bitcoin Trading
- The Application Must be Downloaded
- May be Complex for Beginners
Conclusion
Margin is a serious option for anyone looking to immerse themselves into the world of automated Bitcoin trading. The company and team behind the project are fully transparent, and have made their identities and various social media/LinkedIn profiles publicly available.
They also provide a comprehensive and professional service, and their operations are construed in accordance with and governed by German law, and as a result Margin is a viable choice for anyone looking for a secure solution with a well designed trading interface, and a wide range of options at a reasonable price.
The application is dedicated to trading Bitcoin across a range of leading exchanges which will suit some traders, while anyone interested in trading a wide range of altcoins will be forced to look for an alternative option.
Margin integrates with over 15 leading exchanges including Binance, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, and Kraken, and also incorporates a variety of cutting edge features such as a visual trading, drag and drop order functionality, in chart RSS feeds, a smart order router, and a configurable GUI.
A good number of these features alongside the range of technical indicators and trading bots available to use will suit intermediate and more advanced traders and the platform is set up to allow more dedicated traders to make the most of their trading activities.
However, the team have made a number of resources available to help guide users through the process of using Margin to make automated trades and these include both written and video guides. Crucially the team are also on hand to discuss any issues in their Telegram and Discord groups alongside more experienced community members which is a valuable resource for anyone still learning.
The need to download and install the application may prove to be a turnoff for some, and there are other trading platforms that can be easily accessed from a web browser such as 3Commas and Cryptohopper, however, the team incorporate a number of sensible security protocols and allow users of Windows, Mac, and Linux to use their protocol.
Once up and running, the popular Ping Pong strategy is quite straightforward to use, and anyone still new to automated trading can get to grips with it in a short space of time.
Most importantly, the demo version can be downloaded and used for free which allows anyone to take as much time as necessary to test out the platform and decide whether it is suitable for them. As ever, it makes perfect sense to engage in paper trading and run numerous simulations with virtual funds before graduating to a live account.
The paid plans on offer are also competitive as they involve one off payments and the Starter and Standard plans amount to around $10.75 and $21.60 a month if you were to use Margin for just one year.
The average cost obviously declines the longer you use the platform and the team aim to attract and retain more dedicated traders who will be happy to fork out for a considerably more expensive Professional plan.
Due to the relatively low costs involved in getting started with Margin, the platform will essentially pay for itself if it helps you to generate even quite moderate profits on a regular basis.
As a result, Margin suits anyone ready to dive deep into the world of automated Bitcoin trading, and take the time to set up and configure the platform in the way that suits them best.
Anyone looking to give learning how to trade Bitcoin a go can download the demo and get started, while more experienced traders can do the same to gain a deeper understanding of how Margin can help them to enhance their current trading activities.
Use: Coupon Code “Blockonomi” for 10% off at Margin
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