OKX · Strategy Hands-On
OKX Recurring Buy: How to Set It Up, and What Happens on a Low Balance
On OKX, the bot that buys on a schedule is called Recurring Buy: at the time you set, it spends a fixed amount on the coins you chose, split by the percentages you gave. The bots with DCA in their names, Spot DCA (Martingale) and Futures DCA (Martingale), are something else. They add to a position as price falls and take profit each cycle.
The idea behind a recurring buy is to skip market timing, buy a fixed amount at fixed intervals, and let time average your entry price. It does nothing about the risk of choosing the wrong coin. Four rules to keep in mind when setting it up: the frequency can be daily, weekly or monthly, and some of OKX's pages also list hourly; funds are not frozen in advance and are taken only when a cycle comes due; if the balance is short, that cycle is not bought and the bot is halted until the next cycle with enough funds; and once created, the amount and timing cannot be edited, only stopped and recreated.
Choosing the frequency, quote currency and funding account
The frequency has at least three settings, daily, weekly and monthly; the API docs and one help article also list hourly. Each cycle is bought with USDT, and most pages say USDC works too. By default the money comes out of the trading account. Here is what each OKX source says:
| Source (update date shown on the page) | Frequency | Currency used to buy | Account debited |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Center, Recurring Buy (Aug 2026) | Daily / weekly / monthly | Only USDT | Trading account |
| Help Center, Introduction to Trading bot Mode (Sep 2026) | Daily / weekly / monthly | USDT and USDC | Trading account |
| Help Center, How to perform recurring buy? (Aug 2026) | — | USDT and USDC | Trading, funding and financial accounts, in a deduction order you can customize |
| Help Center, How do I use recurring buy trading bot? (Aug 2026) | Hourly / daily / weekly / monthly | Total entered in USDT; stablecoin can be switched on the order page | Trading account |
| API docs, Recurring Buy | monthly / weekly / daily / hourly | USDT or USDC | Trading account, funding account or Simple earn account |
The table disagrees with itself in three places. On frequency, two product pages stop at daily, weekly and monthly, while the newer help article and the API docs add hourly. On currency, the Recurring Buy page still says "only USDT is supported as the quote currency", and the others already mention USDC. On the account, most pages name only the trading account, while How to perform recurring buy? and the API docs say other accounts can be debited. Use whichever options the creation screen actually shows.
The entry path is written two ways as well. The Recurring Buy page says to go to Trade, select Trading bot mode (top left on web, top right in the app) and choose Recurring buy. How to perform recurring buy? says to open Trade > Trading bots in the app, enter the Bot Marketplace and pick All > Recurring buy. The Recurring Buy page also carries a notice at the top that the bot is temporarily not supported under portfolio accounts.
Buying several coins at once: allocation and price range
You can combine several coins in one recurring buy, up to 20, and each cycle the bot buys them in the proportions you set. The example in How do I use recurring buy trading bot? is 100 USDT a month split 50% BTC, 30% ETH and 20% OKB, which means 50, 30 and 20 USDT of each per cycle.
The price range is set per coin. How to perform recurring buy? explains that you enter a minimum and maximum price for a coin under Advanced Settings when creating the bot, the bot then buys only inside that range, and leaving it blank means no limit. Its example is a 20,000 USDT buy price for BTC, in which case the bot buys only when BTC is at or above 20,000 USDT. The page adds that this applies to manually created bots, not to bot history. In the API docs the same thing appears as a lower and upper price parameter for each coin.
One consequence to think through before you set a range: in a cycle where price is outside it, that coin is not bought. That is the point of the range, but it also means you end up investing less than cycles × amount per cycle.
What happens when the balance is too low
A recurring buy handles money differently from a grid. The Recurring Buy page states that after the bot is created, "the fund is not reserved and isolated upfront for each cycle from the trading account", and asks you to keep enough in the trading account before each investment period. Creating a 100 USDT weekly buy freezes nothing on the spot.
For a shortfall, the same page says: "In case of insufficient funds, the Recurring buy bot will be halted until the available fund is allocated in the trading account for the next investment cycle." How do I use recurring buy trading bot? puts it more plainly: "If your trading account runs out of money, it'll automatically pause", and it resumes once there are enough funds again. Both describe resuming, so plan your funds on the basis that a missed cycle is not bought later.
For the account that gets debited, see the table above. If your creation screen lets you customize the deduction order across your trading, funding and financial accounts, treat the last two as a fallback: when an account further down the order is being debited, the ones ahead of it are already empty.
A few more money-related rules from the same pages:
- Recurring Buy uses assets in your trading account, and Introduction to Trading bot Mode warns of "the forced liquidation risk caused by assets changes in your Trading account". If you also hold margin or futures positions there, count what each cycle takes out.
- If a coin is suspended or delisted while the bot runs, the bot is stopped automatically.
- The minimum amount, according to How do I use recurring buy trading bot?, is 2 USDT, down from 10 USDT.
Can you edit a recurring buy, and how do you stop it?
How to perform recurring buy? says so near the top: "Once created, the recurring buy trading bot does not allow modifications to the amount or timing." To change the amount or the day, you stop the bot and create a new one. To stop, go to Trading bot > Recurring Buy, select the bot and tap Stop. How do I use recurring buy trading bot? also mentions that you can pause and resume, while Stop cancels the future buys.
Recurring Buy has no take-profit setting: according to the API docs, its order parameters include no take-profit target. When to sell the coins already bought, and how much, is yours to decide and to carry out. It is worth writing that down before you create the bot: keep accumulating, or stop and sell in parts once some condition is met.
Recurring Buy and DCA (Martingale) are two different bots
The letters DCA lead to two places on OKX. The bot list in What are OKX's crypto trading bots and how do I utilize it? has Recurring buy, Spot DCA (Martingale) and Futures DCA (Martingale) as three separate entries. The API docs likewise have two groups of endpoints, one called Recurring Buy and one called DCA Trading (split into spot spot_dca and futures contract_dca).
| Comparison | Recurring Buy | DCA / Martingale |
|---|---|---|
| When it buys | At the date and time you set | When price has fallen by the step you set |
| How much each time | A fixed amount per cycle, split across coins by percentage | After the first order, safety orders scaled by a multiplier |
| When it sells | It does not; there is no take-profit parameter | Closes the whole cycle at the take-profit percentage, then starts the next |
| Maximum outlay | Open-ended; it grows with every cycle | First order plus all safety orders, which you can add up before creating |
Using the second as a hands-off recurring buy goes wrong: it scales in on the way down, and the futures version brings margin and liquidation with it. What each of its settings means and how much money you need to have ready are covered in OKX Spot Martingale settings and worst-case cost.
To tell which one is in front of you, look at what the form asks for. A frequency and a time means Recurring Buy. An initial order, a number of safety orders, a price step and a take-profit target means Martingale.
Questions about setting it up
Can OKX Recurring Buy run hourly?
Hourly is listed in the API docs and in the help article How do I use recurring buy trading bot?, alongside daily, weekly and monthly. The Recurring Buy help page and Introduction to Trading bot Mode list only daily, weekly and monthly. If hourly is offered on your creation screen, you can use it.
What happens if my balance is too low for an OKX recurring buy?
That cycle is not bought and the bot is halted; according to the Recurring Buy help page it stays halted until funds are available in the trading account for the next investment cycle. Funds are not reserved in advance and each purchase is taken when its cycle comes due, so keep enough in the account before each one.
Can I fund an OKX recurring buy with USDC, and what is the minimum?
Most of OKX's pages say yes: Introduction to Trading bot Mode, How to perform recurring buy? and the API docs all say USDT and USDC, and only the Recurring Buy help page says USDT alone. The minimum, according to How do I use recurring buy trading bot?, is 2 USDT, down from 10 USDT.
Can I change the amount or time of a recurring buy after creating it?
No. How to perform recurring buy? states that once created, the bot does not allow modifications to the amount or timing. To change either, stop the bot and create a new one. To stop, go to Trading bot > Recurring Buy, select the bot and tap Stop.
Is OKX Recurring Buy the same thing as the DCA bot?
No. Recurring Buy buys a fixed amount on a schedule and has no take-profit setting. The bots OKX names Spot DCA (Martingale) and Futures DCA (Martingale) add to the position as price falls, close the whole cycle when it reaches a take-profit percentage, then start again. If the form asks for a frequency and a time, it is Recurring Buy; if it asks for an initial order, safety orders and a take-profit target, it is the Martingale bot.
If you want a script to decide how much to buy each cycle and when to skip one, rather than the in-app bot, start with the OKX API quant intro. If what you are after is earning the spread as price moves back and forth instead of accumulating in one direction, that is a job for a grid.