Trading digital assets, with or without automation, carries a high level of risk and may not suit everyone. You can lose part or all of the amount you invest. This page explains the main risks in plain language, with one practical step for each.
Nothing on this site is investment advice, a recommendation or a guarantee. Only commit money you can afford to lose, and take independent advice if you are unsure.
1. Market risk
Prices of digital assets can fall or rise sharply within minutes, driven by news, sentiment, large orders or events elsewhere in the world. A position can lose value quickly, and a gain earlier in the month does not protect against a loss later.
What helps: size positions so that a bad week would not change your plans, and review limits in your dashboard regularly.
Example: a coin that rose 12% over a weekend can give back most of it on Monday morning after a single regulatory headline, while the strategy is still holding the position.
2. Liquidity risk
In thin or very fast markets there may be too few buyers or sellers at your price. Orders can fill at a different level from the one displayed, which is called slippage, or may not fill at all until conditions change.
What helps: prefer widely traded pairs and avoid raising order sizes during announcements or at illiquid hours.
Example: a market order for a smaller token placed in the middle of the night can fill several percent away from the last quoted price because the order book is shallow.
3. API and integration risk
The platform connects to your exchange account with an API key. Mistakes in key permissions, an expired key or a change at the exchange can interrupt the connection or cause orders to behave differently from what you expect. A leaked key can be misused.
What helps: grant read and trade rights only, never withdrawal rights, and delete keys you no longer use.
Example: an API key created with a one-year expiry quietly lapses; the strategy keeps showing as active in your head, but no orders are being placed until the key is renewed.
4. Counterparty and custody risk
Your assets sit with a third-party exchange or payment provider, not with us. If that provider suffers a failure, a hack, a freeze or insolvency, you may be unable to access or recover your assets, and we cannot prevent or reverse it.
What helps: choose established venues, spread holdings across more than one provider and do not leave idle funds on an exchange.
Example: an exchange suspends withdrawals for a week during a security review; assets that were only there for convenience become inaccessible at the moment you wanted to use them.
5. Operational risk
Software has faults. Servers, data feeds, connections and third-party services can fail or be slow, and maintenance windows exist. During an outage a strategy might not open, adjust or close a position when you would have wanted it to.
What helps: keep notifications switched on and know how to pause strategies from the dashboard.
Example: a data feed delivers stale prices for several minutes; a strategy acts on information that is already out of date, and the resulting trade is worse than you would have accepted.
6. Cybersecurity and phishing
Criminals target trading accounts with fake emails, cloned websites and calls that pretend to be support. Stolen credentials or a compromised phone can give someone else access to your account.
What helps: use two-factor authentication, check the address of every site, and read the security page and fraud warning.
Example: an email that looks like ours asks you to "re-confirm" an API key on a lookalike page; entering it hands the key to a stranger who can then place orders in your name.
7. Models and automation
An algorithm follows rules and statistical patterns learned from the past. Markets change, and a model that worked in one regime can fail in another. Automation can repeat a mistake quickly, and the volatility guard can reduce but not remove such losses.
What helps: treat automation as a tool that needs supervision, review results often and stop a strategy that no longer fits your plan.
Example: a strategy tuned on a trending market keeps buying dips in a market that has turned into a steady decline, and each repeat of the same rule adds to the loss.
8. Service availability
The platform may be unavailable for planned maintenance, upgrades or unplanned incidents, and the same is true for exchanges and payment rails. Access to funds or to the dashboard may be delayed during those times.
What helps: do not rely on a single channel for urgent decisions, and keep your manager's contact details to hand.
Example: a payment network is down for scheduled maintenance on a public holiday, so a withdrawal you expected on Friday is only processed after the weekend.
The risks at a glance
The same eight risks in one table, with who can do most about each. Where the main control is yours, the platform can warn you but cannot decide for you.
Risk
Main driver
What the platform does
What you control
Market
Price moves and sentiment
Position limits and a volatility guard
How much you invest and when you stop
Liquidity
Thin order books, fast markets
Pair selection and order sizing rules
Which pairs and sizes you allow
API and integration
Key settings, exchange changes
Connection health checks and alerts
Key permissions and expiry
Counterparty
Exchange or provider failure
Cannot prevent; discloses the dependency
Where assets are held and how much
Operational
Outages, data errors, latency
Redundancy, monitoring and status notices
Notifications and quick pause
Cybersecurity
Phishing, stolen credentials
Two-factor, alerts, audit history
Passwords, devices and vigilance
Models and automation
Regime change, repeated mistakes
Documents model limits and tests changes
Supervision and review cadence
Service availability
Maintenance and incidents
Advance notice where possible
Not depending on one channel
9. Before you start
Take a few minutes to answer four questions honestly. They matter more than any setting in the platform.
Do you understand the strategy? Ask your manager to explain what it does and in what conditions it tends to struggle.
What loss can you accept? Write the number down before you deposit and set your limits accordingly.
Is your account protected? Switch on two-factor authentication and check your API key permissions.
Who is watching? Decide how often you will review the dashboard and what would make you pause.
10. If you are unsure
If you are not sure whether automated trading suits you, do not fund an account yet. You can register for free, speak to a manager and decide afterwards. Our crypto basics and FAQ pages are a good place to build understanding at your own pace.
Risk also changes over time. A level that suits you today may not suit you after a change of job, a large expense or a market shock, so revisit your limits whenever your circumstances change, and speak to your manager if you want to reduce or stop.
Past performance, including any figures quoted in reviews, does not guarantee future results. The cost structure is on the fees page so you can compare it with the risks above.