Arab-developed Bitcoin trading bot set to revolutionize the way people invest

LONDON: A fully-automated, algorithmic, Bitcoin-trading bot that was developed in Jordan aims to revolutionize the way people generate wealth from cryptocurrency, according to its creator.

AYMBot was designed to tackle the main issues and challenges associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading, including volatility and accessibility, CEO Ahmad Alsharqatli told Arab News.

“The problem with crypto, that people don’t realize, is that crypto assets, blockchain, this industry is still in its infancy; it’s only 12 years old,” he said.

Bitcoin has become the best-performing asset class of the decade but is hard to get into, it trades 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and is extremely volatile.

“It’s just another day in crypto if Bitcoin, for example, loses 70 percent of its value,” Alsharqatli said. There is a common wisdom in the investment industry, he added, that 90 percent of traditional traders will lose 90 percent of their funds in the first 90 days of trading, and this figure “is even worse in crypto because of the volatility.”

Other issues that crypto investors face include how to get started in trading and convert traditional currencies into crypto, he added. AYMBot offers a “turnkey solution” and is leading the market with its onboarding process, according to Alsharqatli, who was ranked by online magazine Entrepreneurs Herald in its 2022 list of the Top 5 Personalities Disrupting the Finance Industry.

“In line with our vision to democratize data-driven trading for everyone, the minimum (investment) is $500, which we believe is accessible to most people, especially in the region we target right now,” which is the Middle East and North Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, he added.

AYMBot’s AI-powered solution aims to bridge the gap between traditional (or legacy) finance, crypto-assets and blockchain-enabled applications, allowing anyone to access the potential for Bitcoin returns while limiting the risk of systematic losses.

Alsharqatli began developing his algorithm in 2017 to help him trade with his own funds because of the issues with cryptocurrency he found himself facing. He worked with local and international developers but to no avail until, in January 2020, he began collaborating with Naje Isleem, who is now his chief technology officer. Exactly a year later, their algorithm was up and running.

Alsharqatli asked people in his social network to help with beta testing and received a positive response, with around 250 people eager to take part.

“It turned out that it solved a problem for the masses with cryptocurrency (and) we thought to ourselves, why don’t we sell it as a service?”

AYMBot started off with three clients in June last year and by October 1,000 had signed up. It currently has about 3,000 clients and 12 people work on it full time. It manages about $15 million of assets and generates more than $50 million in monthly trading volume.

November 2021 saw the largest monthly user increase, and it also attracted institutional interest from some of the top regional investment banks and family offices, Alsharqatli said.

AYMBot, which is non-custodial with no lock-up periods, has partnered with Dubai International Financial Center — the leading financial hub for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia — and Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

It takes five minutes to set up an account and within 15 minutes the algorithm gets to work: It calculates when to buy, when to sell, how much to risk, and whether the risk is worth taking. In this way it is able to generate passive income for clients over time, whether the price of Bitcoin is going up or down.

Last month, AYMBot announced it has begun to introduce “short selling” or “shorting” to the bot, which is when investors borrow, in this instance Bitcoin, and sell it on the open market to then purchase it later at a lower price.

Crypto markets, which have grown approximately tenfold since 2020 and are now worth about $2 trillion, still remain small compared with traditional financial markets. Nevertheless, they continue to grow rapidly, often quicker than laws and regulations can be developed and imposed on them.

Novice crypto investor Barakat Al-Nahar said that after he was introduced to AYMBot he decided it would be a safer option for crypto trading rather than trying to figure it all out on his own.

“After seeing that I’m not the best person to trade and invest based on my own knowledge, especially given the volatility of the market, I wanted someone who would have a much more experienced background and who is more invested in trading crypto,” he said.

“AYMBot offered me that service of buying and selling Bitcoin without me having to interfere or be active.”

Al-Nahar, who is training to be a lawyer at the Jordanian bar, admitted he has only basic knowledge of the ins and outs of cryptocurrency trading, after becoming interested in Bitcoin a few years ago. Before that he dabbled in stocks, commodities and the foreign-exchange market but said he did not have the best of experiences.

“My trading wasn’t based on calculations, it was more of a “FOMO” (fear of missing out) or trying to ride the next wave,” he added. “And that’s not the way to go when you’re trading. Trading should be a lot more consistent and calculated and not controlled by emotions.”

He began trading using AYMBot in August and said that taking into consideration the fact that Bitcoin has been stagnating for almost a year, he has not incurred the losses he probably would have if he was making his own trading decisions.

“You can’t expect profits if Bitcoin itself isn’t profiting but I’ve seen more positive signs and results since they’ve affected short trading,” Al-Nahar said.