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More tips on choosing robot settings

Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:06 pm

In this article I'm going to discuss possible ways to optimize the chances of success using the robot. There are no 'recommended settings' for the robot, because the optimal settings vary depending on the market you are deploying the robots into. I suggest always studying the market briefly first, to help you decide what settings are likely to be optimal and meet your personal outlook on risk. The robot is automated and gives you a speed advantage compared to manual traders, but it still requires a bit of thought to choose the best settings and the best markets.

For example:

1) The first step is probably to select a market that might suit the robot. For example, if you notice that a pre-play football market has been fairly static around a fixed price point and is defintely trading on both sides of the market, with a deep queue at the front prices, then you might become interested.

2) Then look at the size and dymaics of the queue (by queue, I mostly mean the volume of money offered at the front price on each side of the market). Look at the typical size of the queue. This will help you decide what support there will be behind you by the time you reach the front of the queue. You want money to build up behind you, as the money gets matched in front of you. So it is important that the price doesn't get wiped out constantly by strong momentum in one direction.

3) Also try to get a feel for the typical trade size appearing in the last trade column. You want to join a large queue which keeps getting hit by small matches, so that there is time for new money to arrive behind you, as you slowly progress to the front of the queue. The new money helps support you and your ability to scratch.

Imagine that you have spotted a market where there tends to be £2000-5000 at the front prices and the typical last trade is £200. Then you can start to devise appropriate Min Liquidity and Scratch sizes. In this example, you might choose a scratch size of £200-500 and a Min Liquidity of £1000-2000, or whatever you feel comfortable with. Choose bigger numbers for safer operation, or smaller numbers to get more business and take more risk.

You could also consider further extending your robotic trading into more volatile markets if you are willing to change your risk profile. For example in volatile markets that you feel have a strong centre centre of gravity (around a busy price), you might even choose a strategy which involves turning off the scratch feature. In other words, you might decide that the market has strong 'reversion to mean' tendencies which are likely to ensure that the market keeps coming back to the same tight price range where it will match both sides of your original position, rather than running away in one direction.

If using the robot in horse racing (which is usually a volatile noisy market), it might be worth considering trying a strategy that doesn't rely on using a tight stoploss, but instead sends all orders as "Take SP". This might give the market a chance to revert to mean and thus fill your orders pre-play, rather than hitting a stoploss and then bouncing back! There is nothing more annoying than seeing your stoploss being hit during a period of market 'noise'. If the market doesn't revert to mean, then at least you know your positions will be closed at the start of the race for a loss that was not defined by an arbitrary stop loss. It all depends on your appetite for risk.

These are just my suggetions, it is not financial advice!

Good luck and happy trading,

Gavin

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:34 am

Hi Gavin,

thank you for your tips how to use the robot. One question: How do I setup the bot to send orders to "Take SP"?

Michael

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:58 am

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your question. The robot derives its 'Bet Persistence' from the settings in the main application window. So whatever you have selected in the box labeled "At In-Play" will be used. You can select "Take SP" from the drop down list.

Best wishes,

Gavin

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:26 pm

Hi Gavin,

Thank you for the tips on using the BOT. I must say the software is excellent and has been a very useful tool.

I have question on the robot setup, is it possible to get the stakes to offset to enable it to green-up instead of placing equal stakes on both sides.

Kind Regards

James

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:02 pm

plum83 wrote:Hi Gavin,

Thank you for the tips on using the BOT. I must say the software is excellent and has been a very useful tool.

I have question on the robot setup, is it possible to get the stakes to offset to enable it to green-up instead of placing equal stakes on both sides.

Kind Regards

James


Hi James,

Thanks for your comment, I'm glad that you are enjoying the software.

At present there is no automatic stake greening within the robot, although this might be added in the future. In the meantime, you can choose to simply stop the robot before the market turns in-play and then hit the green up button (or use the Green-To column if you want to work a greening bet rather than just accepting the best available price). You'll only need to green once, even if you have matched dozens of pairs of bets on that runner.

Kind regards,

Gavin

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:40 pm

Hi,

great software for a newbie like me!

I would like to know how does the robot know to use 1 tick for profit, like in the Example 1 in the tutorial. I am asking since this setting is not set explicitly in the robot settings.

Thanks a lot.

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:42 am

Hi Whitesnake,

Thanks for your nice comments.

The robot is set to always work for 1 tick only. It only operates when there is no gap between the front prices, i.e. the market spread must be 1 tick wide.

This is because it the robot has designed for markets that are liquid, it would not work well in market with a wider spread. In the future I might create a second version of the robot that works on markets with a wider spread and tries to earns more than 1 tick on each position it takes.

Kind regards,

Gavin

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:00 pm

Hi, i have some problems with the Trading Bot. Here is my problem: I play on the 0-0 market of a soccer match. When i run the bot on 0-0, the bot starts laying a bet... But i want the bot to Back first and then lay! How do i make the bot do that ?

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:40 pm

blodtypexnar wrote:Hi, i have some problems with the Trading Bot. Here is my problem: I play on the 0-0 market of a soccer match. When i run the bot on 0-0, the bot starts laying a bet... But i want the bot to Back first and then lay! How do i make the bot do that ?

The bot can't do that.

Maybe consider just using the tick offset feature? That is exactly what the offset feature does:
http://www.cymatic.co.uk/UserManual/TickOffset.aspx

I am considering creating a robot that works on one side of the market first.

Kind regards,
Gavin

Re: More tips on choosing robot settings

Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:08 am

Hi Gavin,

I would like to create a bot (or autobot..) I will use everyday on a single type of market.

I want to place a back at @1.95 for £5 for all football matches on this market " Odd or Even" on the runner 1 (Odd)

I would like to save time of course. I don't want to select all the markets one by one. I would like also the soft "remember" my bot, so everyday I login in Cymatic, I just have to select my bot and select the market type (Odds or Even in my example).

Is it possible to do it?

Thanks.
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