How the rule works
Bollinger bands draw a channel around the price: a 20-candle average with a band two standard deviations above and below it. Most of the time the price stays inside. This rule buys when a candle closes above the upper band, on the idea that the price is breaking out of its usual range.
It has no sell signal. Each trade ends one of two ways: at a profit target 5% above the entry, or at a stop loss 3% below it. In the app’s quick builder that pair of exits is called Balanced.
How it did
Every test used a 1,000 USDT balance, 1-hour candles, 0.1% fees and 0.05% slippage, on Binance prices from 20 July to 30 October 2026. Prices rose over those 102 days.
| Coin | This rule | Holding | Trades won | Worst drop | Holding’s worst drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | −2.5% | +19.7% | 5 of 13 | −14.8% | −12.1% |
| ETH | −1.2% | +19.8% | 8 of 20 | −18.8% | −21.2% |
| SOL | +4.8% | +25.7% | 12 of 28 | −21.1% | −24.5% |
| BNB | +11.7% | +23.6% | 8 of 16 | −8.8% | −13.5% |
Every trade was a simple bet. Win 5% or lose 3%. With those sizes the rule needs to win roughly four trades in ten to break even after fees. It won exactly half on BNB and fewer than four in ten on BTC.
It did best on the coin that moved furthest in straight lines. BNB’s breakouts kept going. BTC’s often turned back within hours.
It stays in a trade for a long time. With no sell signal, a position waits until the price reaches the target or the stop. On BTC the bot held a position 83% of the time.
When it tends to work, and when it doesn’t
It suits coins and periods where a move, once started, continues. It struggles when prices poke above the band and fall straight back, which is common in a quiet market.
What to change first
- The exits. Careful (stop 2%, target 3%) ends trades sooner. Bold (stop 6%, target 10%) gives them more room and costs more per loss.
- A volume check. A breakout on rising volume is more likely to continue.
- A trailing stop. It lets a strong breakout run further than a fixed 5%.
Common questions
What is a Bollinger band breakout?
It’s a candle closing outside the band that normally contains the price. A close above the upper band can mark the start of a strong move, or a brief spike that reverses.
Do breakout bots work in crypto?
They work when moves continue and lose when they reverse. In this test the same rule made 11.7% on one coin and lost 2.5% on another over the same weeks.
Why use a fixed target and stop?
Because it’s easy to reason about. You know the most a trade can lose and what it aims for before it opens. The cost is that a fixed target also caps your best trades.
What this doesn’t tell you
This is one period of 102 days in a market that went up. The same rule can do better or worse in a different market, and it says nothing about what happens next. The past doesn’t predict the future.
You can run this test yourself on the testing page, then change the rule, the coin and the stop loss and watch the result move.