Momentum Scalper
What It Does
Momentum Scalper trades 17 coins simultaneously using a momentum-entry + martingale-scaling strategy. It enters long when price breaks above its short-term average, scales in aggressively when price drops against the position, and exits when the position hits a target profit.
This strategy was reverse-engineered from the top-performing HL vault on Hyperliquid — one of the most profitable independent vaults on the platform ($1.74M all-time PnL, $9.2M TVL, 650 days running).
How it was created
We downloaded over 72,000+ fills from the top-performing HL vault via the Hyperliquid API and analyzed:
- 100% taker fills in the original vault — our implementation uses TWAP with maker-only limit orders (0% fee)
- Momentum entry — 69% of new entries happened when price was above the recent average (breakout buys)
- Martingale scale-in — when price dropped against the position, the vault added 2-40x the initial size at lower prices, the amount varied based on drawdown
- Never stops out — 100% round-trip win rate because it holds losing positions until they recover, they have hands of steel and dont panic seeing a red #
- Independent per-coin signals — each coin trades on its own, not correlated entries across all coins
- Data - Once we pulled enough of the top rated by APR & TVL, we were able to go through every trade to find out exactly how they are placing orders.
Backtested Results
Swept 324 configurations across 18 coins with 365-730 days of 1-minute data.
Best config (Sharpe 5.30):
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Initial entry | 2% of capital per coin |
| Scale multiplier | 3x current position on dips |
| Scale trigger | 8% drawdown from entry |
| Max per coin | 20% of capital |
| Exit target | 2% profit |
Results on $500K capital:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| PnL (365d) | $877,149 |
| Max Drawdown | $153,097 |
| Sharpe | 5.30 |
| Win Rate | 100% (never realizes a loss) |
| APR | 356% |
| Coins Traded | 18 |
How It Works
Every 10 seconds, for each of the 17 coins:
-
Check momentum — is the current price above the 20-bar simple moving average?
- Yes and no position → enter long at 2% of capital
- No → do nothing (wait for breakout)
-
Check drawdown — has the position dropped 8%+ from average entry?
- Yes and under max position cap → scale in (add 3x current position size)
- This is the martingale component — bigger buys at lower prices
-
Check profit — is the position 2%+ above average entry?
- Yes → exit entire position at market
-
Never stop out — no stop-loss. The strategy holds losing positions and scales into them until price recovers.
Risk Warning
WARNING: This strategy has a 69% maximum all-time drawdown in backtesting. It works because crypto markets have historically recovered from every drawdown. In a prolonged bear market or if a coin goes to zero, the martingale component will amplify losses. If the trend is up, this will work in your favor.
The "100% win rate" is misleading, it simply means the bot never realizes a loss, not that it never has unrealized losses. Positions can carry significant unrealized losses while waiting for recovery.
Do not run this with capital you cannot afford to lose. This is a momentum based strategy, it can cause losses without sufficient trade size to capital
Coins Traded
BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE, XRP, LINK, AVAX, ADA, DOT, UNI, NEAR, INJ, AAVE, BNB, TRX, BCH, LTC
Parameters
| Parameter | Default | Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital | $5,000 | $1K-$500K | Total capital to deploy across all coins |
| Initial Size | 2% | 1-5% | Entry size as % of capital per coin |
| Scale Multiplier | 3x | 1.5-5x | How much to add on dips |
| Scale Trigger | 8% | 2-10% | Drawdown % to trigger scale-in |
| Max Position | 20% | 10-30% | Max % of capital per single coin |
| Exit Profit | 2% | 1-5% | Take profit target |
| Cycle Time | 10s | 5-30s | Time between checks |
Compared to Other Strategies
| Feature | Momentum Scalper | Pro Trader | Mode 1.2 (GLFT Grid) | Ladder Bot | |---------|-----------|---------------------|------------| | Order type | TWAP limit (maker) | Limit (maker) | Limit (maker) | Limit (maker) | | Coins | up to 17+ simultaneously | 1 at a time | 1 at a time | 1 at a time | | Direction | Long-only | One side (alternating) | Both sides | Both sides | | Stop loss | Configurable | Optional | N/A (grid) | Optional | | Entry signal | Momentum breakout | Brain signal | Grid fill | Grid fill | | On drawdown | Scale in via twap (martingale style) | Holds or SL | Grid catches dip | Grid catches dip | | Fee impact | Free (maker) | Free (maker) | Free (maker) | Free (maker) | | Speed | sub 14ma cycles | 0.10-15ms cycles (HFT) | 1-3s cycles | 1-5s cycles | | Best for | Bull markets | Trending markets | Any market | Any market |
Only time an order would be a taker order is if you manually set a SL/TP and dont let the bot fully handle it.