What Is Smart Cover?
The Smart Cover tool is a versatile feature that allows you to:
Sell and Repurchase Coins: Sell assets you own and plan to buy them back at a better price.
Repurchase Coins at a Better Price: Plan to rebuy using Take Profit and/or Stop Loss features.
Manage Orphaned Short Positions: On Futures exchanges, Smart Cover is called Smart Short and helps control open Short trades.
Ways to use Smart Cover
For Spot:
Smart Cover – You currently own the asset (e.g., BNB), sell it now, and plan to buy it back later at a lower price using Take Profit.
Smart Cover with ‘Use Existing Assets’ – You already sold the asset manually and now hold USDT. You simply want to buy back the asset (e.g., BNB) at a lower price. Enable “Use Existing Assets” to create a trade that only sets the buy condition.
For Futures (Smart Cover becomes Smart Short):
Smart Short - You are opening a short position.
Smart Short with ‘Use Existing Assets’ – You already have an open Short position manually created on your Futures exchange account. Enable “Use Existing Assets” to import and manage that position within 3Commas using advanced Take Profit, Stop Loss, and trailing tools.
Think of Smart Cover as the opposite of SmartTrade’s usual flow:
Instead of buying low and selling high, you sell first — then buy back when the price drops.
You can access Smart Cover via the SmartTrade page under the "Smart Cover" tab.
Here are example uses for a Smart Cover trade:
Like a traditional short, when you have a negative trade or hold a coin that is dropping in value, you can sell the coins and buy them back at a lower price. This allows you to purchase back more of the same token. When the token recovers in value, the profit will be realized in your balance.
You can also repurchase coins after a profitable sale. Say you have a long trade in the positive but think that there would be a short-time price bounce and drop. Set an order to sell the tokens near the bounce point, then plan a repurchase to occur later.
There may be other great ways to use the Smart Cover; it is all up to you!
How to Create a Smart Cover Trade
Step 1: Choose Exchange, Market, and Trading Pair
Example: Use Demo Account and select BNB/USDT.
Step 2: Set the Sell Condition
Enable “Use Existing Assets” only if you already sold the asset and now want to buy it back later (e.g., you now hold USDT and plan to re-enter BNB when the price drops).
If you still hold the asset and want to sell it first, do not enable this toggle — just continue with a regular Smart Cover setup.Specify the amount of coins to sell. Let's make it 1 BNB.
Choose the Order Type:
Limit: Places a sell order at a specific price.
Market: Executes the sell order at the current market price.
Conditional (Cond.): Executes the order when specified conditions are met.
Set the price for Limit/Cond. orders.
Enable or disable the Trailing Sell feature. If enabled, the order type will automatically change to Cond., and the conditional price will trigger the trailing later.
You can specify the QUOTE currency equivalent to the amount of coins to sell. (e.g., USDT).
The “Use Existing Assets” toggle changes the logic of the Smart Cover trade:
OFF (Spot/Futures) – You are starting a new trade now:
For Spot, this means you sell now and buy back later.
For Futures, this creates a new Short position from scratch.
ON (Spot) – You already sold your Spot asset and want to rebuy at a better price.
ON (Futures) – You already have an open Short position on your exchange and want to manage it in 3Commas. This links the position to Smart Short without opening a new trade.
Step 3: Plan the Buy Condition
Take Profit:
Plan to repurchase the coins at a lower price for profit.
Example: Buy back BNB at $525 after selling at $700.
Optional: Set multiple TP targets.
Optional: Enable Trailing Take Profit.
Stop Loss (Optional):
Plan to rebuy the coins at a higher price to minimize potential losses.
Example: Buy back BNB at $875 if the price rises unexpectedly.
Optional: Set Stop Loss timeout.
Optional: Enable Trailing Stop Loss.
Optional: Enable Move to Breakeven.
Step 4: Create and Confirm the Trade
Review your settings and click Create Trade.
Confirm the details in the pop-up window.
That’s it! Your Smart Cover trade is now active.
Managing Orphaned Positions on Futures and Spot
If you have open Short positions on Futures or previously sold assets on Spot exchanges, Smart Cover can help you manage these positions efficiently.
Recover Open Short Positions (Futures)
Use Smart Short to link and manage orphaned Short trades on Futures exchanges. This will be automatically chosen when you link the orphaned Short position. This tool allows 3Commas users to regain control of Short positions that are not managed by Bots, Grid Bots, or SmartTrade.
Configure Advanced Settings: Set Take Profit and Stop Loss levels to optimize your trade, allowing you to minimize risk or lock in profits directly within 3Commas.
Flexible Use Cases:
Traders who manually created a Short position on the exchange can integrate it into Smart Cover (Smart Short) to utilize advanced tools like trailing features.
Grid Bot Users: If you cancel a Grid Bot on a Futures coin pair, you can link the orphaned position to Smart Cover to manage it effectively.
DCA Short Bot Users: Similarly, orphaned trades from Futures DCA Short bots can be managed using this tool.
Important
To link an existing Short position from your exchange manually, you must enable the “Use Existing Assets” toggle when setting up your Smart Cover (Smart Short) trade.
This tells 3Commas that you're not opening a new Short, but instead connecting an existing position for tracking and management.
Example:
John manually opened a Short position for ETH at $2000 on his exchange. He links the orphaned position to Smart Short within 3Commas.
He sets a Take Profit at $1900 to lock in profits.
He sets a Stop Loss at $2100 to limit potential losses.
By linking the position to Smart Cover (Smart Short), John gains full control and can adjust settings dynamically without relying solely on the exchange's interface.
Buy Back Previously Sold Assets (Spot):
Enable the “Use Existing Assets” toggle only if you already sold the asset manually (e.g., now you hold USDT) and want to buy it back at a lower price.
If you still hold the asset (e.g., BNB), do not enable this option — just create a standard Smart Cover trade to sell now and repurchase later.
Go to SmartTrade.
Choose the trading pair with the coin you want to buy back. Example: BNB/USDT.
Enable Use Existing Assets and enter:
The amount of coins to buy.
The price you sold the coins in the “Were Sold For” field.
Set Take Profit and Stop Loss as outlined above.
Reviewing and Managing Trades
After creating a trade, scroll down to see your active trade in the SmartTrade dashboard.
Manage your trades or edit Take Profit/Stop Loss settings as needed.
For more details, visit Manage Active SmartTrades.