The Emergence of TG Bots: Enhancing the Necessity of Trading Experiences
The policies of app stores and the nature of mobile wallets create a complex multi-step, multi-app experience for Web3 users on mobile devices. In contrast, Telegram offers a highly accessible, free social ecosystem supported by its robust open API set, which is very friendly to third-party applications. Beyond crypto-related bots, the TG Bot ecosystem mainly consists of notification and efficiency bots based on IFTTT logic. These bots serve various functions such as tracking stock market prices, managing RSS feeds, and group management.
The subpar Web3 user experience on mobile devices and strict app store policies have created an excellent market opportunity for TG Bots. Due to the nature of mobile wallets, Web3 web applications and other mobile native apps require multiple steps and applications to connect, log in, and authorize transactions and other on-chain activities. The desktop-first approach of most Web3 dApps today primarily drives the poor mobile experience in Web3.
Users may also face risks such as public node congestion and MEV attacks. As a result, some developers have begun using TG Bot’s automation scripts to enhance user experience, giving rise to cryptocurrency tracking and trading bots in the market. Maestro is a prime example of this trend.
The Quiet Emergence of Trading Bots
In October 2021, Maestro launched a TG Bot to monitor token activities and trades of whales and other profitable accounts. Initially named “Catchy” and supported by its token, the bot allowed users to monitor token price changes on Ethereum and Binance Chain and track other accounts’ activities to find trading “sniping” opportunities. However, the bot did not attract much attention initially, and the token presale was delayed due to insufficient participation. It wasn’t until August 2022, with the launch of the Sniping bot (software designed to scan liquidity markets and detect the latest liquidity pools on the blockchain) and the rebranding to Maestro, that it began to attract a certain trading user base.
Despite various growth strategies attempted by the Maestro team, the number of users and engagement remained stable. The primary barrier for new users was the requirement to import wallet private keys or use a hosted wallet generated by the TG Bot. For many crypto users who are highly sensitive to security issues, this was a decisive factor leading to negative outcomes.
Demand for Speed & The Meme Coin Season
With the Arbitrum airdrop in March 2023, the sluggish cryptocurrency market saw the grand arrival of the meme coin season. Led by $AIDOGE, an airdrop on Arbitrum combined Doge and AI memes, without any apparent reason other than “digital rise,” while $PEPE was a meme coin on Pepe Ethereum. Subsequently, other soon-to-be meme coin legends like LADYS, TURBO, COCO, and TEST saw their token prices multiply by hundreds or even thousands, attracting many users seeking new wealth.
However, due to the poor trading experience on mobile, many users who couldn’t stay online around the clock found it difficult to participate. For instance, replicating trades on a PC is relatively easy, and mobile users could use TG Bots like Ceilo.fiance to get new token and trading notifications. Still, replicating trades requires executing a complex series of steps and applications across multiple websites:
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Open transaction details on a block explorer
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Copy the token contract address
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Switch to the wallet app (ideally with Uniswap interface already open, connected, and logged in — requiring 3 more steps)
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Paste the contract address and accept Uniswap’s risk warning
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Enter the purchase amount
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Confirm the quote and click exchange
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Sign the transaction in the wallet app
This process can take from 10 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the user’s speed and internet connection. For time-sensitive launches and meme coins, this can make a significant difference—some meme coins may only have a lifespan of 3 minutes, where a one-second delay could mean the difference between selling off or buying in—a matter of life and death for traders.
Thus, more efficient tools have become highly sought after in the crypto world, with trading TG Bots becoming the focus.
For the same trade, trading bots can not only automatically monitor and track specific wallets but also replicate the trading process with delays across a few blocks, avoid MEV attacks, and even automatically sell at the expected profit.
A crucial feature called “Block-0 Sniping” has turned processes that were previously accessible only to highly skilled individuals into processes that anyone with sufficient funds can execute. This fundamentally changes the power dynamics among participants.
In any game, there are two key groups: those with significant wealth and those with technical skills. The latter gains an advantage and status through superior skills, while the former gains an advantage and status through spending large amounts of money on the game. A balanced game can allow both sides to gain significant advantages at some stage.
However, in the past, wealthy players often could not outmatch skilled individuals until the introduction of trading TG Bots, which made the competitive environment fairer. Therefore, even robots like AlphaMan, with annual fees reaching thousands of dollars, have maintained a stable user base.
All this has made intent-based applications (such as trading TG Bots) popular again. As seen in the chart below, trading volume on Maestro experienced a surge in late April.
Trading Volume on Maestro
With the launch of Unibot in June 2023 and the release of $LOOT in July, the meme coins truly gained momentum, with TikTok video meme coin $YYY exploding in popularity and $BITCOIN regaining attention.
During this period, Unibot also launched the web application Unibot X, attracting numerous desktop traders with its superior trading experience. With the advantage of token issuance, Unibot successfully raised its token price from $57 on July 15 to $199, reaching an all-time high, and achieved a market cap of $200 million on August 16, solidifying its position as a TG Bot leader at the time.
Current State of TG Bots
In this article, we focus on trading bots with tokens. For example, reviewing CoinGecko for Telegram applications and their own tokens, the top five bots are all trading bots, with three also focusing on AI services. Although AI bots have other uses, AI trading is the main driver of their current usage.
Telegram Applications with Their Own Tokens
The PAAL AI platform allows users to deploy their own GPT-supported bots using customized knowledge bases. PAAL AI has access to real-time on-chain data to answer user questions and conduct on-chain trading via bots. Its primary revenue model comes from a 4% token trading tax on both buyers and sellers. The company is currently developing a mobile trading app that includes standard trading features like Sniping.
ChainGPT follows a similar approach, incorporating on-chain queries, smart contract generation, NFT creation, contract auditing, and other automated Web3 functions. AI is also used in its trading bots.
AimBot is an AI trading TG bot where AI acts as the trader, with profits distributed to $AIMBOT token holders through the protocol.
In addition to trading TG bots, there are middleware TG bots focused on community management and token gating, such as Collab.Land and Guild, as well as various TG wallets. Most wallet applications are based solely on Telegram’s TON ecosystem, which is not covered in this article. Wallets focusing on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains require importing private keys.
Strong Performance Even in a Bear Market
According to Dune data, as of October 8, 2023, the overall performance of trading TG bots remains impressive, even in a relatively sluggish bear market:
Total trading volume reached $2.94 billion, with 74.9% coming from the OG project Maestro, 12.3% from former leader Unibot, 10.3% from the new top Banana Gun bot, and 2.3% from DC Bot Alphaman, with the remaining approximately 0.2% from other projects.
Notably, Maestro’s trading volume is estimated based on its 1% trading service fee, while Unibot and Banana Gun’s trading activities can be tracked on-chain using services like Dune through token trading taxes. With just a 1% service fee, its cumulative revenue has reached approximately 13,495 ETH (around $22 million).
In terms of token market value, before the appearance of Banana Gun, Unibot accounted for over 90% to 95% of the market value. On September 14, Banana Gun launched the $BANANA token, quickly capturing market share with lower fees and meme social recognition, becoming the new leader.
Currently, the total market value of trading bot tokens is $137 million, with Banana Gun holding 57.3%, Unibot 38.4%, and the two combined accounting for 95.7% of the total market value.