Has anyone used bots? Are they worth the time and effort?
Trading bots aren't a plug and play method of earning profits. To get the most from them, requires knowledge of trading and algorithm tweaking. I think trading bots are mainly a hobbyist and curiosity sector for active and experienced traders to experiment with. Bots can be coded to fill in some of the blank areas where traders are disadvantaged. That would probably be the area where bots are most useful.
A better plug and play method of earning crypto is staking on celsius and platforms that offer decent interest APR IMO. There are also blockchain and NFT based games like splinterlands that do airdrops and have crypto earning potential.
I fully agree. New traders in crypto or forex should never engage with the use of a trading bot. I see some people marketing their bots online especially in Facebook groups and honestly speaking the one making money are these sellers. Some are even distributing bots for free if you will signed up with their preferred broker...making money from affiliate sales, of course, is the strategy they employ here. There is no short cut to trading and if one has really no time to learn then maybe copy trading can be a good option though anything will still have some risks involved.
By the way, thanks for sharing the Celsius platform and I think they are providing good APR plus they have the promo free $50 too which can be a good start. As to Splinterlands, I am looking at it now but I can see some good potential in there.