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A grid bot buys a stock in small steps as the price dips, and sells each share a step higher. You set the steps: where the first buy is, how far apart the levels are and how much higher each share is sold. Each buy that is later sold counts as one sale, and the bot repeats this by itself. It runs on our server, so your computer doesn't need to be on.

1. You pick a stock, the money for the bot and the distance between price levels.
2. The bot places buy orders on levels below the price. When one fills, it puts that share up for sale one step higher.
3. When the share sells, the difference is profit, and the level is ready to buy again.

A DCA bot buys a stock in rounds. It makes a first buy near the price, then buys more shares below it if the price keeps falling. When the price rises a set percent above what the round's shares cost on average, it sells them all in one order and starts a new round. It has no stop loss: when its buys below are used up, it holds the shares and waits for that sale.

• Shares in the first buy — whole shares bought near the price when you press Start. First buy at is the most it pays; leave it empty to buy at the price.
• Buys below it — how many buys sit below the first one, from 0 to 10. Shares in the next buy, Gap to the next buy, Buys grow by and Gaps grow by set how many shares each of them buys and how far apart they are.
• Sell above the average — how far above the round's average cost the sale is placed.
• Start a new round after each sale — on, the next round starts at the price; off, the bot pauses until you press Resume.
• Keep some shares — leave part of each round's shares to you instead of selling them, in percent or in shares.

Money for this bot, Trading hours, Backtest and practice work the same way as for a grid bot. Its Safety limits are Hold off on sharp jumps up and Pause buying at a loss. You choose the bot type when you add a bot, and it can't be changed later.

Recurring buys follow a calendar: the same amount every week or month, whatever the price. A DCA bot follows the price. It buys when the price falls to its steps, buys more the lower it goes, and sells the whole round when the price rises a set percent above the average cost. Then it starts a new round.

The bot has bought all it can in this round, so it holds the shares and keeps its sale order in place. It never sells at a loss by itself. New bot shows how far below the first buy the last buy below is, so you can see how deep a fall a round covers before you start. You can press Stop at any time and choose to keep or sell the shares.

Yes. In a long fall the bot keeps buying and can end up holding shares worth much less than it paid. Money for this bot limits what the bot spends, not what you can lose, and a bot can't make a falling stock recover. Please read the Risk Disclosure before you start a bot.

A practice account has $10,000 of made-up money, so you can try bots without touching a real account. It uses real market prices, which can be delayed, and everything in it is marked Practice or Simulated. You get one practice account. If the button on Bots says Practice opens soon, practice isn't open for your account yet.

Press Connect your broker on Bots or in Account → Brokers. The list there shows the brokers you can connect now. We work with Cash and Margin accounts that trade US stocks and add brokers over time. You can also try bots on a practice account first.

Some brokers connect through an account for bots. It's a separate account you open in your broker's app for trading agents, with its own money; your broker may call it an agentic account. If your broker works this way, open that account and move money into it before you connect. The bots trade only there, and your other accounts at your broker stay as they are.

Yes. Some brokers show a general name such as Your agent on the page where you allow access. Open that page with the button on DipGrid and check that the address bar shows your broker's own website before you sign in. DipGrid never asks you for your broker password.

Yes. Some brokers can hold every order an agent places until you approve it in their app, often with a setting called Trade approvals. Turn it off for agents before you start a bot. While it's on, the bot can't follow its orders, so new buys on that account wait while we check, and we contact you if you need to do anything. Sells already placed and your shares stay as they are.

No. You sign in on your broker's own website and approve access there, so your broker password and trading PIN are never typed into DipGrid. Your broker then gives us an access pass. We keep it encrypted, with the key stored apart from our database.

No. We read only the account you choose and place and cancel orders in it. Our access cannot withdraw or move money, and we don't work with brokers whose access could. Your other accounts at the same broker are not touched.

Open Account → Brokers and press Disconnect next to the account. The bots of that account stop, we cancel their orders at your broker, and your shares stay in your account. Then we erase our access. If an order can't be cancelled, we email you the list. Bots that sold anything keep their results on Bots: the account stays there as a grey Disconnected tab with its Closed bots.

You can also remove access in your broker's app, usually in the settings for connected apps or agents. Cancel the bots' orders there yourself after that: DipGrid can no longer reach them, and a buy that fills later won't get its sale.

Yes, during the closed beta. The beta has no set end date. After it, paid plans start at $29 a month, and practice accounts stay free. Before any paid plan starts, we will show you the price and terms and ask for your separate consent. Your broker's own fees, if any, are separate.

We invite new people every 2 weeks, in the order they joined the list, in small groups so we can welcome each person and answer their questions. Right after you leave your email we send you the date of your invite, and on that day you get a link to sign up. No email after a few minutes? Check your spam folder or write to [email protected].

Your link works for 7 days. If you haven't used it in 3 days, we send a new one and the old one stops working. If that one runs out too, write to [email protected] and we'll help.

1. On Bots, press Add a bot.
2. Choose the account and the stock, then fill in Money for this bot, the levels and Trading hours.
3. Press Continue. Preview shows the orders the bot will place right now and the money they hold.
4. Press Start bot.

You can run a Backtest from the same page first, to try the settings on past prices.

• Money for this bot — the most this bot may spend. What it paid for the shares it holds and its open buy orders count against it. It's a limit inside DipGrid: your broker doesn't set this money aside.
• First buy at — the price of the first buy. The other levels sit one step apart from it.
• Step between levels — how far apart the levels are, in dollars or in percent. With the first buy at $330 and a $5 step, buys sit at $330, $325, $320 and so on.
• Sell higher by — how far above its buy price each share is put up for sale, in dollars. A share bought at $325 with Sell higher by $5 is listed at $330.
• Shares per level — how many shares to buy at each level. Whole shares only.
• Buy orders at once — how many buy orders wait at your broker at once, from 1 to 10. Each one holds cash until it fills or is cancelled.
• Profit from sales — Set it aside (the default: the bot never spends more than its money, and the profit stays in your account) or Buy more with it.
• Trading hours — when the bot's orders may work; see the next question.

You choose every value. A number already in a field is a starting point, not advice.

They set when the bot's orders may work. All times are Eastern Time (ET):

• Regular — 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.
• Extended — 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday: regular hours plus pre-market and after-hours.
• 24/5 — from Sunday 8 p.m. to Friday 8 p.m., overnight included.

Outside regular hours fewer people trade, prices move more and orders fill less often. Overnight, some brokers take only day orders in whole shares; there the bot cancels and re-places its orders around 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. The bot doesn't trade on market holidays, and on short days regular hours end at 1 p.m.

Pause buying stops new buys and asks your broker to cancel the bot's open buy orders. The bot keeps placing and managing sell orders for the shares it holds. A buy can still fill before your broker confirms the cancellation; the bot then holds those shares and lists them for sale too. Resume buying shows what the bot will place and starts buying again. Pause all on Bots does the same for every bot on the account.

Stop cancels all of the bot's orders, and the bot places no new ones until you start it again. You choose what happens to its shares:

• Keep the shares — we ask your broker to cancel all of the bot's orders. The shares stay in your account.
• Sell the shares — one order for all of the bot's shares: At market (regular hours only), At the buyers' price (a limit order at or just under what buyers offer now) or At my price (a limit order at the price you enter; the window shows the lowest price allowed now).

Before selling, we ask your broker to cancel the bot's other orders. A sale may fill in part, late or not at all; while it waits, you can set a new price or cancel the sale in the same window. Later you can start the bot again or delete it.

Open the bot's Settings and press Delete this bot at the bottom. A bot with no shares and no orders is deleted at once. A bot you stopped with its shares kept can be deleted once your broker has confirmed its cancellations: the shares stay in your account as your own, and DipGrid no longer counts, watches or sells them. This can't be undone. If the bot sold anything, its result stays on Bots, under Closed bots on its account's tab.

Yes. Open Settings, change what you need and press Save; the bot applies it at its next check, usually within a minute. Buy orders that no longer fit are cancelled and new ones placed, while sell orders already placed keep working. While the bot holds shares, Stock, First buy at, Step between levels, Sell higher by and Shares per level are locked, because its open sales were planned with them. Changing Trading hours cancels and re-places all of the bot's orders. Lowering Money for this bot doesn't cancel buys already placed; the bot just places no new ones until it is back under the limit.

A grid bot buys only when the price dips to one of its levels: "running — 3 buy orders placed" means three buy orders are waiting below the price. If none are waiting, the status next to the bot says why — for example it is paused, its money is in shares (waiting on sales) or it is holding off after a sharp jump. Stop buying above and Stop buying below also leave no buys while the price is outside them. If money for bots on an account is more than its cash plus what they paid for their shares, they take turns: the first in line buy, and the rest show "out of cash" until sales bring cash back. Problems are listed in Journal.

Better not. Your broker doesn't set the bots' money aside: if you buy something yourself or withdraw cash, a bot may have nothing left for its next buy. That buy then waits until the cash is back: the status next to the bot says "the next one waits for cash", or "out of cash" or "waiting on sales" when no buy is left standing. Keep your own trades in a separate account.

Your broker reports one total number of shares for each stock in an account. With two bots on the same stock, neither could tell which shares were its own. Bots on different stocks can run side by side on the same account. For the same reason, don't buy or sell the bot's stock yourself in that account while the bot holds shares: the bot can't tell your shares from its own.

Optional limits under Safety limits in New bot and Settings:

• Stop buying above — no new buys above this price. Shares already held still sell.
• Stop buying below — no new buys below this price. Buy orders under it are cancelled; sell orders keep working.
• Hold off on sharp jumps up — after the price jumps up more than this percentage between two checks, no new buys until it has been calm for 2 minutes.
• Max unsold buys — the most buys the bot holds unsold at one time.
• Pause buying at a loss — if the bot's shares fall this far below what it paid, it cancels its buy orders and stops buying; sell orders stay. Resume buying starts buying again.

They reduce some risks but can't prevent losses: prices can gap past them.

Orders already placed stay at your broker and can still fill, but nothing new can be placed or cancelled until the connection is back. When it returns, each bot carries on as it was, running or paused. If we find a problem on our side, we stop new buys first, and sales keep working. Keep your broker's app at hand so you can act yourself if DipGrid is unavailable.

• Made — what the bot made on finished sales: shares it bought and then sold.
• If sold now — what the shares the bot still holds would gain or lose at the last price, against what it paid. It moves with the price and isn't money yet.
• Total profit on the bot's page — both together.

Neither counts broker fees or taxes. Made can be positive while the bot is behind overall, because the shares it holds can be worth less than they cost.

Journal shows the events of each account and bot: orders, fills, sales with their profit, your changes and any problems. Times are shown in your device's time zone, and the page names it. A red dot next to Journal in the menu means a problem in the last 24 hours. You choose which changes we email you about in Account → Notifications: emails about risky changes, like a new bot, a new stock or more money for a bot, are on from the start; everyday ones, like Start or Pause, are off. We never email about each trade.

In practice, an order fills in full at its own price once the market passes it by a cent: no one is ahead of you in line and there is no spread. Money from a practice sale can be spent at once. Real orders can wait behind others and fill in part or not at all, and on a cash account money from a sale takes time to settle. Practice also leaves out fees and taxes, so its results usually look better than real trading would.

Backtest replays a stock's past prices candle by candle and places your bot's orders the way DipGrid would; nothing goes to your broker. You pick 5-minute candles for 1, 3 or 6 months, or 1-minute candles for 1 month. The result shows two estimates — Certain, which counts a sale only when the price came back in a later candle, and Up to, which also counts turns inside one candle — plus a confidence level and a comparison with buying and holding. It is hypothetical: past prices don't predict future ones. You can run 20 tests an hour, and one usually takes under a minute.

Sign in with your email and password. On a device we don't know yet, we also email you a 6-digit code that works for 10 minutes; after that the device is remembered, and we email you a New sign-in notice. You stay signed in for up to 30 days. With Face ID turned on, Face ID replaces both the password and the code.

Yes, if you like: in Account, open Security and turn on Face ID. It works with Face ID or a fingerprint on devices that support passkeys. Your face or fingerprint stays on your device; we keep only a public key. You can always sign in with your password instead.

Open Account. For your safety we ask for your password again, and that keeps changes open for 10 minutes.

• Email — in Account details. We send a link to the new address (it works for 24 hours) and a notice to the old one.
• Password — in Security: enter the old one and a new one of 12 to 128 characters. Your other devices are signed out.
• Phone — changing it isn't available yet.
• Name — email [email protected].

Forgot your password? Press Forgot password on the sign-in page, and we will email you a link that works once, for 1 hour.

1. In Account, open Security and press Sign out everywhere.
2. Change your password.
3. On Bots, press Pause all for each account, or check your bots.
4. Write to [email protected].

We always email you about every new sign-in. Emails about risky changes to your bots, like a new bot, a new stock or more money, are on from the start, so a change you didn't make shows up in your inbox; turning one off sends you an email too.

Write to us with the form on this page or at [email protected]. Stop your bots first and choose what happens to their shares: closing DipGrid doesn't close your brokerage account, and your shares stay there. After we close your account, your profile — name, email, phone, password and sign-in records — is deleted within 30 days. Records of your bots, orders and commands, the documents you accepted, our emails and your support messages are kept for 5 years, as section 5 of the Privacy Notice explains.

When you are signed in, use the form on this page: we reply by email to the address on your account. You can also email [email protected]; security concerns go to [email protected]. Support explains how DipGrid works; we don't suggest stocks or settings and don't give investment, tax or legal advice.

Never. We don't ask for your DipGrid or broker password, sign-in codes or your full account number — not by email, phone or chat. If someone does, it isn't us: don't answer, and write to [email protected].