Signal is a platform designed to allow traders to make full use of all the opportunities for trading the range of digital assets available on Binance exchange.
Signal provides traders with a wider range of tools than those currently found on the exchange, and allows anyone to easily enhance their trading activities. Using Signal allows anyone to trade efficiently around the clock and take advantage of the cryptocurrency market remaining open 24/7.
The platform incorporates popular market and limit order features and also allows users to set up simultaneous stop loss and take profit orders, as well as trailing stops, and laddered buys.
Signal can also be accessed via desktop or by a mobile device which suits anyone who likes to keep an eye on their trades whilst away from their desk.
Signal Overview
Signal was founded in 2015 by current CEO Kyle Kaiser, CTO Tamara Bain, and Jason Knott.
The project is based in Ontario, Canada and parent company Signal Inc. retains a business address at 151 Charles St W, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and the team also participated in a 2016 Y Combinator program and have since raised seed round investment.
Despite being founded in 2015, the platform is still in its early stages and continues to develop as a cryptocurrency trading solution.
The platform is an emerging crypto trading option that allows anyone to automate their trading activity on Binance via API key connections, and Signal incorporates a number of trading options including regular market and limit buy and sell orders, as well as simultaneous stop-loss/take-profit orders, and trailing stop-loss orders.
The platform also allows its users to set up laddered buys in addition to easily configuring sales of their existing coin holdings. The platform can be accessed via desktop or mobile devices, and provides SMS notifications, and anyone signing up is able to take advantage of a 7 day trial period with the service available for a fee of $9.95 per month from then on.
Key Features
- Functionality – Signal operates as a web-based solution and makes use of a simplistic and intuitive design that is suitable for traders of all levels. The platform can also be accessed by tablets and i0s and Android mobile devices and users can also get notified of updates via SMS notifications.
- Technology – The platform facilitates automated trading via API integration with Binance and the team also make use of data encryption and secure servers. Signal will also block access from any unknown devices, and notify you via email when this happens.
- Range of Tools – The platform provides a range of trading tools designed to enhance your Binance trading experience and incorporates common options such as stop-loss and take profit orders, as well as simultaneous stop-loss/take-profit orders, and trailing stop-loss orders.
- Low Cost – The service is available for free during the 7 day trial period. After this, the platform can be used for $9.95 a month, which makes it one of the cheaper cryptocurrency trading solutions currently available.
- Customer Support –The team provide a number of useful resources in their Support Section including guides that explain how to use the platform, and there are also video tutorials available inside member accounts. The team can also be contacted by email, or by connecting via Facebook or Twitter.
How to Get Started on Signal
To create an account, just click the “Sign Up” tab at the top right of the home page.
1) Create an Account
To register an account, you just need to enter an email address and create a password before agreeing to Signal’s Terms of Use.
After submitting your details, you need to click on the link in the verification email, in order to verify your address and gain access to your account.
2) Connect an Exchange
You can now set up your trading account and connect with Binance via API keys, you will need to login to Binance and have two factor authentication (2FA) enabled. Once inside your account, you can find your API keys by navigating to the Account section and clicking “API Setting”.
From here you can name the API key and click “Create New Key”.
You will then need to enter your 2FA code and also confirm the update by following the instructions in the confirmation email. You will then see the API keys, and you can complete the setup process by returning to Signal and entering the required information.
3) Create Your Orders
Signal allows you to set up market and limit buys/sells and also allows you to set up simultaneous stop loss and take profit orders, as well as trailing stops, and laddered buying. To get going you need to navigate to Create Signal view, and create a trade.
For example when setting up a limit buy order, you will need to select your trading pair, e.g. LINK/USDT, enter the amount of USDT you would like to use and set your desired price. When this is done you can click the “Continue” button.
You can now add your Targets, and Signal supports up to 5 targets which can be either Limit or Market orders. Targets are also known as Take Profit orders and are used to specify a sell price for your chosen coin.
You can also set a Stop-loss.
Before going on to review your order.
When you are happy with your instructions, you can hit “Create Signal”.
4) Sign Up
The platform can be used free of charge for a period of up to 7 days, and from then on, the service costs $9.95 a month. If you are happy with the results of the trial period then you can commit to paying a monthly fee, and you will be required to enter your credit card details in order to set up a recurring payment.
Make note that the payment of $9.95 will be automatically charged to your credit card until you cancel the service.
Is Signal Safe?
There isn’t a great deal of information available on the project’s security protocol’s but the Signal team are more transparent than most and have made details about themselves and their corporate structure publicly available.
This helps to develop a feeling of trust, and also provides users with a central point of contact should something go wrong, and the core team have also made their Github profiles available for inspection.
This transparency helps a great deal as the platform is still quite new and requires your credit card details in order to process your subscription payments, however, if there are any problems, these can easily be sorted by contacting your credit card provider.
The team do need to improve their overall visibility and developing their social media profiles as well as building a Telegram community will help a great deal, as well as go some way in helping to generate an even greater feeling of trust.
However, the team are committed to data security and the protection of user data and all data is protected by security integrated safeguards such as secure areas, encryption, and secure servers, in addition to further organisational and administrative measures.
Furthermore, Signal only retains personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected; although cookies are an exception as they are necessary for performance and/or functionality.
The website also states that should Signal suffer a breach, it would implement its Incident and Breach Response Plan, which includes sending notifications to individuals and/or the data collector, as soon as feasible.
User accounts are secured via standard email/password combinations although Signal’s device guard feature allows Signal to block access to your account from an unknown device, and users will be notified by email when this happens.
As ever, users should be sure to develop their own personal security protocols and keep their personal information as secure as possible as well as be sure to disable withdrawals from within their Binance account.
As with the majority of trading bots or portfolio management tools, you are not required to transfer funds over to Signal, and the platform doesn’t have any direct access to your crypto portfolio.
Everything is done via an Application Programming Interface (API) which is an interface for an application that allows it to receive and send specific data types. This allows Signal to interface with Binance and collect price and account balance data as well as place buy and sell orders.
Is Signal Beginner Friendly?
All portfolio management platforms come with a learning curve and take some getting used to, however, Signal is one of the most straightforward crypto trading solutions currently available.
The interface is simple and easy to understand and after linking your Binance account via API keys, everything can be done from inside your online Signal account. The platform offers a simple set of tools which suit anyone looking to enhance their trading activities on Binance and therefore suit beginner and more intermediate traders.
More advanced traders may be interested in more complex features and greater options such as configurable trading bots, as well as algorithmic trading bots, and these features are currently just not supported by Signal.
The team also provide a number of resources which help to explain various aspects of using the platform and these include written guides and video tutorials. However, their online community is still under development and new users may have to “go it alone” on occasion, although the team can be contacted via their social media channels.
The 7 day free trial means that anyone interested in using the platform can test it out for a week before deciding to pay the monthly subscription.
The additional features offered by Signal are also quite straightforward to understand and include laddered buys, trailing stop losses, and an option to sell your existing coins. These features work as follows.
Laddered Buys
As we can see from our previous limit buy order example, when setting up your buy orders there is an option to enable laddered buys via the “Laddered” tab. To get started simply:
- Toggle “Laddered”.
- Enter the initial price you would like to enter the trade at and click “Add Buy 1″. You then repeat this until you have entered 3 buy prices.
- You then press “Continue”.
- Finish off by applying your Targets and Stop-loss and then confirm the signal.
This method allows you to ladder into your position, and split your buy zone into three entry points, and when the price hits each of your buy prices Signal will purchase your chosen coin with the amount of funds you have specified (as an amount % of your total investment size).
By laddering your buys you are guaranteed to enter the trade when the price hits your buy zone, and if the price reaches the bottom of your buy zone you also “dollar cost average” in with a better price (averaged across all of your buys).
Trailing Stop Losses
Again, from our previous example we can see that there is the option to select “Trailing” when configuring stop losses. After creating your new buy order you then:
- Input the buy price you wish to enter with and press Continue.
- Navigate to the Stoploss tab.
- Toggle Trailing on.
- Use the slider to specify the trailing distance and choose the Amount % you wish to sell.
- Apply your Targets and confirm the Signal.
If you were to buy 1 ETH for $100 for example, and set the Trailing Stop-loss price to -10% ($90), the Trailing Stop-loss will follow the price in this way:
No. | ETH price per 1 unit | Trailing StopLoss price |
1. | $100 | $90 |
2. | $102 (rise) | $91.80 |
3. | $105 (rise) | $94.50 |
4. | $101 (correction) | $94.50 |
5. | $105 (rise) | $94.50 |
6. | $108 (rise) | $97.20 |
7. | $112 (rise) | $100.80 |
8. | $108 (correction) | $100.80 |
9. | $100.80 (correction) | $100.80 (triggered) |
The Trailing Stop-loss increases with upward price movements and sells when the price starts dropping. This allows you to be more flexible and lock in profits on a coin that may trend upwards before falling in price.
Sell Existing Coins
Signal also allows you to create an active trade from a positive coin balance you hold on Binance, and you can use the Sell Existing option and then specify how much of your holdings you would like to create the trade with.
You will also need to enter the price you purchased the coins at as Signal uses this information to provide ROI calculations.
To use Sell Existing with Signal, simply follow the instructions below:
- Navigate to the Sell Existing tab.
- Select your Pair.
- Input the total Amount you wish to sell.
- Enter the price you originally purchased the coin at (you should be able to view this from your Binance trade history).
- Press Continue.
- Apply your Targets and StopLoss and confirm the signal.
Pros
- Set Simultaneous Orders
- Easy to Use Interface and Features
- Transparent Core Team
- Low Cost Option
- Suitable for Newer Traders
Cons
- New Platform Still Establishing Itself
- Only Binance Exchange Supported
- Limited Support/Contact Options
Conclusion
Signal is an up and coming crypto trading platform that is still developing in various ways, and the platform offers a simple range of trading tools and currently only supports Binance exchange which greatly limits its appeal.
However, once inside your account, you will find that the layout is well designed and everything about Signal is easy to understand and use which will suit beginners and less experienced traders.
The fact you can use the platform on a mobile device is also handy as are the SMS alerts and Signal allows its users to set simultaneous stop loss and take profit orders which Binance currently doesn’t support.
Other features such as laddered buys, trailing stop losses, and the ability to sell your existing coins come in useful and are again quite easy to execute and allow anyone to lock in profits and enhance their trading activity without having to spend hours getting to grips with the software.
Despite these positives, Signal is not for everyone and is lacking in a number of areas, and anyone looking for a solution that can be used with a variety of exchanges will be found wanting. It also doesn’t offer any sort of algorithmic trading options, and users cannot configure their own bots, and there is no ability to “copy” trade or interact with other users on the platform.
In fact, the company is still developing its online community and the team will do well to become more visible by increasing their social media activity as well as opening up a Telegram group.
As a result, the platform will probably attract more adventurous users as it is still early days for Signal, and even though the core team are quite transparent, the operation just hasn’t been active for as long as some of the leading projects in this sector.
Anyone who is already active on Binance and actually spends most of their time on that one exchange may look into Signal as it extends the experience of using Binance via its own more comprehensive trading tools.
Also, despite its limitation, Signal is one of the cheaper crypto trading solutions on offer at just $9.95 a month and anyone interested should take advantage of the 7 day free trial in order to find out if Signal is up to the task, and whether or not it suits their particular needs.