TL;DR
- Full configuration control: Set your asset, investment size, price limits, number of levels, and grid width, then save the setup to reuse or adjust later.
- Backtest before you commit: Run your exact configuration against historical price data before a single order goes live.
- Adjust a running grid without restarting it: Open the configuration panel on a live bot, change your settings, and apply the update to the same grid.
- Built for Kraken Desktop: Smart Grid runs natively on Kraken Desktop‘s low-latency architecture, not in a browser tab.
The problem with most grid bots
Grid trading bots are now standard on nearly every exchange. What most of them still get wrong: configurations that lock the moment you go live, little to no real testing before you commit capital, and a browser tab standing between you and your automation.
Place a series of buy and sell orders across a price range, then let the bot capture any potential profit as price moves up and down inside that range. It works well when a market is trading sideways. It does not predict or benefit from a sustained trend in either direction.
What is missing from most grid bots is control. Almost every platform asks you to commit to a configuration before you have any evidence it will hold up, locks that configuration the moment the bot goes live, and runs the whole thing in a browser tab that is only as reliable as the connection behind it.
If conditions change, or a level needs adjusting, your only option on most platforms is to stop the bot and rebuild it from scratch.
We built Smart Grid to fix that.
What is Smart Grid?
Smart Grid automates a range-bound trading strategy so you are not manually watching charts and placing orders by hand. Before you go live, you can configure every variable that matters:
- Asset: choose any eligible tradeable pair
- Investment size: how much capital the grid puts to work
- Price limits: the upper and lower bounds of your range
- Number of levels: how many buy and sell orders sit across that range
- Grid width: the spacing between levels
Save a configuration once it is set up the way you want, and reuse or adjust it the next time conditions call for it.
Test the fit before you fund it
A grid strategy only works if the market stays inside the range you set for it. Smart Grid lets you backtest your exact configuration against historical performance before a single order goes live, so you can see how it would have performed instead of guessing.
That check matters because grid bots are not a fit for every condition. They are built for range-bound, sideways, or choppy price action, not a strong directional trend.
Backtesting your configuration against recent price history is the fastest way to check whether the current market actually calls for a grid strategy, or whether you would be better off waiting.
Start with the Smart Grids 101 board
Setting up a grid strategy is easier when your workspace is already built around it. The Smart Grids 101 board is a ready-made Kraken Desktop layout designed specifically for grid trading. Open it in one click and you have a workspace organized around the tools and data you need most when running and monitoring a grid strategy:
Boards on Kraken Desktop are fully customizable, so Smart Grids 101 is a starting point, not a fixed layout. Rearrange panels, swap in what you need, and save your own version once you’ve tuned it.
For anyone getting started with Smart Grid, or launching Kraken Desktop for the first time, it removes one more thing you’d otherwise have to set up yourself.
Adjust it without starting over
Once your grid is live, Smart Grid is one of the only grid bots that lets you change your mind. Open the configuration panel on a running bot, adjust your settings, and apply the update to that same grid, without stopping it or rebuilding it from scratch.
You can also set a base stop loss for the overall strategy and toggle margin on or off, so the control you have on day one does not disappear the moment you go live.
Built to run on Kraken Desktop
Smart Grid runs natively on Kraken Desktop, on the same low-latency, low-memory architecture as the rest of the app. That’s a meaningful difference from a bot running in a browser tab, which can freeze, lose its connection, or slow down right when volatility picks up and every other dashboard is struggling to keep pace.
Running your strategy on Desktop means it is backed by a client built to handle exactly this kind of always-on, automated tooling.
What this launch includes
- Asset selection across any eligible tradeable pair
- Full configuration and save, covering investment size, price limits, number of levels, and grid width
- Backtesting against historical performance before you go live
- Margin toggle to enable or disable leverage on the grid
- Base stop loss for the overall strategy
- Live performance tracking once your grid is running
- Live amendments: adjust a running grid without stopping or restarting it
Margin availability and stop loss behavior may vary by account type and region.
Getting started
Smart Grid is available now to eligible Kraken Pro users on Kraken Desktop. If you already trade on Kraken Pro through the web or app, Smart Grid is one more reason to make the switch to Desktop. Open Smart Grid, choose your asset and configuration, run a backtest to check the fit, and go live when you are ready.
Grid trading still takes monitoring and judgment. Smart Grid is not a hands-off passive income product. It is a tool for traders who want precision over an automated strategy, from the moment they configure it to the moment they decide it needs to change.