Bot Budget Calculator
This worksheet helps you determine your “extinction budget”—the amount you can allocate
to bot trading without risking your financial security. Be honest with yourself. This is
money that could go to zero without affecting your retirement or your marriage.
Include retirement accounts, investment accounts, savings—everything except home equity
and emergency funds.
Most cautious investors use 3-5%. More aggressive might go to 10%. If losing this would
affect your retirement plan, it’s too high.
Include all subscriptions: bot software, signals, data feeds, platform fees.
Your Numbers:
What This Means:
The Decision Tree:
Can you lose this money completely?
If NO → Don’t use a bot with this money
Is the fee hurdle realistic?
If over 30% → Fees are too high for this budget
Has the bot beaten this hurdle historically?
If NO or UNKNOWN → Don’t proceed
Will you demo trade first for 3+ months?
If NO → Don’t risk real money
📝 Your Day 1 Action Item:
Write down your extinction budget number and put it somewhere visible. This is your
absolute ceiling—not a suggestion. When a bot provider asks you to “scale up” or
“add more capital,” this number doesn’t change.
To save as PDF: Use your browser’s Print function (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P)
and select “Save as PDF” as the destination.
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