Crypto Traders Turn to Bots in Sideways Markets, HTX Says

According to a 2025 year-end recap from HTX (formerly Huobi), cryptocurrency traders increasingly adopted automated strategies, particularly grid-based trading bots, as volatile but largely sideways markets made directional bets difficult. HTX noted that grid trading volume on its spot platform surged by 97% year-over-year, with allocated capital doubling. This trend was most pronounced in stablecoin pairs, where volume grew 352%, suggesting bots were used to profit from smaller, repeated price swings rather than major market moves. Separately, the article highlights growing interest in AI-powered trading agents, citing Coinbase's development of tools like "Based Agent" and Payments MCP, which allow LLMs to interact directly on-chain via natural language prompts. While a CoinGecko survey indicated about 36% of respondents would let AI manage most holdings, experts like Aaron Ratcliff of Merkle Science caution that granting AI access to crypto wallets reintroduces trust layers into inherently trustless systems.

(Source：Cointelegraph)