Do crypto trading bots actually make money?

Some do, most don't, and the difference is rarely the bot — it's whether the strategy inside it has a real, validated edge. A bot is an execution wrapper: it applies rules tirelessly and without emotion, which amplifies a good strategy and a bad one equally. Marketplace bots sold on backtest screenshots are overwhelmingly curve-fit; the sellers keep the screenshot, you keep the drawdown.

Before trusting any bot (bought or built): demand out-of-sample evidence, run it on paper for weeks, and size as if its worst backtested drawdown will be doubled live. If a vendor can't show validation beyond a single equity curve, the equity curve is marketing.