Why didn't my AI bot trade?
Read the Last cycle block of an AI bot: why a cycle ended without a trade, how the daily AI budget works, what each reason means and what to do about it.
Availability: AI (agentic) bots are a gated feature. They stay off until your plan, your account and the platform launch gates all allow them. Your dashboard is the source of truth for what your account can actually use today.
An AI bot that does not trade is not necessarily broken. Holding is a valid decision, and most cycles of a careful bot end without a trade. This page explains how to see what the last cycle did and what, if anything, you should do.
How often an AI bot looks at the market
An AI bot analyses the market once per closed candle of its schedule. New bots use a 1 hour schedule; 4 hours, 12 hours and 1 day can be selected instead. Between two candles nothing happens, and that is normal. A post in a Telegram channel the bot follows can start an extra analysis of one coin — see Agentic settings, Telegram channels and limits.
Where to look
Open the bot. The Last cycle block tells you, in plain language:
- what the last cycle did,
- the AI budget left today, and when it resets,
- when the next cycle runs,
- the coins it looked at (Last candidates) and what the AI proposed for them (Last proposals).
On the bot list, the bot card shows a one-line reason, such as "No trade: …", whenever the last cycle did not trade.
The reasons, and what to do
| What the bot tells you | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The AI chose to hold | The AI reviewed the market and no trade looked good enough | Nothing. This is the most common outcome |
| No coin qualified | No market passed the bot's filters this cycle, so there was nothing to analyse | Nothing. Conditions change from candle to candle |
| A risk rule blocked the trade | The AI proposed a trade, but one of the bot's hard risk limits refused it | Nothing, unless it keeps happening; then review capital and risk per position in your agentic settings |
| The bot is skipping a few candles | After several cycles without a trade, the bot pauses briefly to save AI budget | Nothing. It resumes by itself |
| Today's AI budget is used up | The bot may not spend more on AI today | Wait for the reset at 00:00 UTC, or raise your monthly AI allowance |
| The AI provider failed or timed out | Your provider refused the request, or took too long to answer | Check your provider key and the balance of that provider account in Settings |
| The bot is stopped or in an error state | No analysis is scheduled | Start the bot. If a Recover bot button appears, use it first |
| Trading permission is paused or not confirmed | The bot is not allowed to trade on its own right now | Open the bot, read the pause reason, then resume or confirm the permission |
The Recover bot button
When a bot stopped after a problem with its trading engine and holds no position, a Recover bot button appears in the Last cycle block. It puts the bot back into a clean stopped state so that you can start it again. If the bot may still hold a position, recovery is refused and nothing is changed.
How the daily AI budget works
Each AI bot has a budget per day, made of two limits that apply together:
- a token cap — how much text the AI may read and write for this bot per day;
- a money cap — one thirtieth of your monthly AI allowance, and never less than 0.10 USD.
The budget resets at 00:00 UTC. Only what a cycle really used is counted. A failed attempt no longer uses up the day: budget held for an attempt that did not finish is released again.
What an analysis costs
You bring your own AI provider key, and your provider bills you directly — BotTradesForYou does not charge for AI usage. With the default low-cost model, a typical analysis costs about one US cent. What a whole day costs depends on the schedule and on how many coins are analysed; the daily money cap stops the bot before it can spend more than its share of your allowance.
A stronger model costs more per analysis and uses up the daily budget faster. You choose models under Settings → Agentic → Models.
FAQ
My bot has not traded for days. Is something wrong? Look at the Last cycle block. If it says the AI chose to hold or that no coin qualified, the bot works as intended. It trades only when a trade passes the AI's judgement and every risk rule.
Can I force the bot to trade? No. An AI bot only acts on its own analysis, inside its risk limits. If you want to trade a specific idea at specific prices, use a signal bot — see Signal bots with fixed levels.
The budget is used up early every day. What can I do? Raise the monthly AI allowance, choose a cheaper model, or move the bot to a slower schedule such as 4 hours.
The provider keeps failing. What should I check? That the key is still valid, that the provider account has credit, and that the selected model is still offered by that provider. All three live in Settings.
Does a cycle without a trade cost money? Yes, when the AI was consulted: the analysis itself is what your provider bills. A cycle in which no coin qualified or the budget was already used up costs nothing.
My bot follows a Telegram channel and ignores the posts. Where do I look? See Telegram autopilot readiness and test.
Related reading
- Autonomous agentic bots — selection, risk limits and consent
- Agentic settings, Telegram channels and limits — models, allowance and trading defaults
- Telegram autopilot readiness and test — check that channel posts reach your bots
- Signal bots with fixed levels — trade one idea at your own prices