FAQ

Common questions about the Spot Signals hub answered in one place.

Why no SHORT signals?

Spot is a CASH market. You buy something and you own it. To SHORT spot, you'd need to borrow the asset from a lender, sell it, hope it falls, buy it back, return it. This is called "spot margin shorting" and it's available on a few exchanges (Binance Spot Margin, Coinbase Pro pre-merge, Kraken Margin) — but:

• Margin borrowing rates are high (5-50% annualized on alts).
• Liquidity for borrowing is thin outside the top 5-10 coins.
• Liquidation risk is real (you can owe MORE than your collateral if the asset rallies hard).

For shorting, futures is the right tool. Use USDⓈ-M Signals instead — leverage is configurable from 1× to 125×, and there's no borrow/return mechanic.

Can I autotrade spot signals?

Not at this time. The autotrade engine integrates with Binance Futures USDⓈ-M only. Spot signals are alert-driven — receive the alert, place the order on your exchange manually.

This is on the roadmap. If you'd find spot autotrade valuable, email support so we can prioritise.

How should I DCA into a spot signal?

DCA-ing into a spot signal is reasonable if you have high conviction AND don't mind holding for a longer period:

1. Don't fill the full intended position at the signal entry price.
2. Plan 3-5 layers: e.g. 40% at signal entry, 30% at -2%, 30% at -4%.
3. Each layer is a separate limit order placed BEFORE the price drops.
4. Set ONE shared OCO at the signal's SL — when SL hits, all layers exit.

DCA reduces slippage cost and gives you a better blended entry IF the signal works out after the dip. It does NOT improve a fundamentally wrong signal — if the SL hits, you still lose.

NEVER DCA on futures. DCA into leverage = accelerating toward liquidation.

What about partial fills on my exchange?

A limit order fills as much as the orderbook allows at your price. If the spread is wide or the book is thin, you might fill 40% of your intended size before price moves away.

Most exchanges have an option to "size the OCO to actual filled amount" (Binance: "use total available balance" toggle on the OCO form). Use it.

If you set an OCO for the FULL intended position but only got partially filled, the exchange will reject the OCO because you don't own enough to sell. Manually re-size the OCO to your actual filled amount.

How do I handle fees in my P&L calculations?

Spot exchange fees: 0.10% to 0.60% per side. Round-trip = 0.20% to 1.20%.

When evaluating a signal's expected outcome:

• TP1 hit: gross +X% → subtract fees → net +(X − round-trip)%.
• SL hit: gross −Y% → ADD fees on your way out (you still paid fees to sell) → net loss is slightly worse than the raw SL distance.

For Binance Spot at 0.10% per side:

Fees are predictable; bake them into your strategy expectations.

What's the typical hold for a spot signal?

Median time-in-trade across all spot sources: ~36 hours.

Range:

• Fast resolutions (TP1 hit quickly): 2-6 hours.
• Standard swing entries: 24-72 hours.
• Long-running trend signals: 7-21 days.
• Expired (never reached entry): 24-48 hours (signal expires if entry not hit in 48h).

If you can't monitor a position for 36+ hours, set the SL/TP via OCO on the exchange and check back periodically.

What about taxes?

Tax treatment of spot crypto signals varies by jurisdiction:

We don't issue tax forms automatically. Use the CSV export (Premium+) to get a record for your accountant.

I missed the entry — should I still take the trade?

Use the "0.5% rule":

• If current mark is within 0.5% of signal entry → still actionable. Take the trade.
• If current mark is 0.5% – 1% past entry → marginal. Take only if you have a strong reason (e.g. you've been waiting for this exact pair and your conviction is high).
• If current mark is > 1% past entry → skip. Risk:reward has degraded; the original setup is gone.

This is why notification latency matters — see the Alerts pipe page for delivery latency targets.

Signal says LONG but the chart looks bearish — should I trust the signal?

Three cases:

1. You disagree with the indicator's read. That's fine. The signal is one input, not a command. Skip the trade.
2. You don't understand WHY the indicator says LONG here. Open the detail dialog and read the "Generation reason" field. If you still don't understand, skip — never take a trade you can't articulate.
3. You're overweighting recent price action and underweighting the higher-timeframe signal. Signals on 4h/1D often look "wrong" from the perspective of the current 5m candle. That's why they're 4h/1D — they're not for 5m traders.

When in doubt, paper-trade the signal mentally: would you have been right or wrong? Build evidence over 10-20 signals before deciding whether you trust a source.

How is win rate computed for spot?

Win rate = closed signals where at least TP1 was hit / total closed signals.

A signal where price went up 0.8% (below TP1) then reversed to SL = LOSS. Even though it spent most of its life in profit. We use the actual TP1 hit as the binary win/loss criterion to be consistent across sources.

Can I share spot signals with team members?

Yes — every signal has a Copy signal link button in the detail dialog. The link opens for any user with the deep-link URL. They can view the signal but cannot subscribe or alert from your account.

What's next

• Spot Signals overview — hub features.
• Manual execution — how to act on a signal.
• Spot vs Futures — pick the right hub.
• Signals introduction — all three hubs compared.