What I've learned

[cybernet69]

One extra take i used to employ on this strategy was...

If i had placed an initial back bet at say 5.3 because there wasn't much money there. Then wait until the odds get 5.2 and only place the lay bet there if there was a large chunk of money behind me at 5.1. If not then I would cancel all the trades. Likewise if I placed the lay at 5.2 and my money at 5.3 wasn't being taken then I would move my trade at 5.3 to 5.2 to scratch.

It sounds simple and is. But like I said previously, you have to concentrate and be quick to either cancel all or scratch.

Would be ideal to automate as you could then just run it on 1st, 2nd and 3rd favourite. But so far I have never really figured out how to get the scratch trade correct.

Maybe Dallas can knock something up. Only joking.

I wouldn't try it on the Greyhounds unless you have a large supply of adult nappies.

[cybernet69]

Could easily be automated in BA if we could set signals on specific odds

You need to know how much money is waiting at certain odds. There is no point in randomly placing your trades where there is 3000 waiting to be matched as you will be at the back of the queue.

Ideally you want < 100 depending on the market.

[Niko]

Could easily be automated in BA if we could set signals on specific odds

You need to know how much money is waiting at certain odds. There is no point in randomly placing your trades where there is 3000 waiting to be matched as you will be at the back of the queue.

Ideally you want < 100 depending on the market.

could be a condition of the Lay or back bet??

[cybernet69]

Could easily be automated in BA if we could set signals on specific odds

You need to know how much money is waiting at certain odds. There is no point in randomly placing your trades where there is 3000 waiting to be matched as you will be at the back of the queue.

Ideally you want < 100 depending on the market.

could be a condition of the Lay or back bet??

BA doesn't currently support knowing how much money is waiting at certain odds, although you might be able to-do it using Excel.

Also, i don't think you can build a proper scratch routine.

[Llosgi]

Loving the fact that you more experienced traders are looking at the automation angle. It's what I've really appreciated from this forum over the last few months.
Cheers!

[cybernet69]

Loving the fact that you more experienced traders are looking at the automation angle. It's what I've really appreciated from this forum over the last few months.
Cheers!

It can be automated but not sure by any ready made commercial software.

The person I know who has, had it written specifically to-do this one strategy. It looks and feels simple but when you start breaking it down on how you do it manually, then there are a fair few things that need to be programmed in.

It isn't fully automated though as he still looks up and down the ladder and decides where he is going to put the initial back and lay bets. The software then takes over and manages his trades depending on which initial bet gets activated or looks like getting activated first. That's the clever bit which takes all the emotion and stress out of what he is doing.

[jimibt]

mark - the manual stage of that automation may actually be pretty complex, but at the same time, it could also be just the simple steps of mentally registering:

1. is price on a settled plain
2. are top 2 runners separate from the rest of the field
3. is the volume ratio consistent with the book%
4. has the current fave heavily steamed prior to the current 5 minute window

these and a few more data points that are mentally consumed are often aggregated as a *feel* for the trade and thus definitely can be difficult to automate, especially in terms of initial selection.

[Bluesky]

But I share it only as I find it makes my scalping effective and that has been a great relief after many other strategies have been less reliable.

I'm sorry if you though I was implying you had copied the strategy from someone else. I am gland you posted it, and it has lead to some good discussion which is what sites like this are all about. I hope you continue to enjoy great success using it.

[cybernet69]

mark - the manual stage of that automation may actually be pretty complex, but at the same time, it could also be just the simple steps of mentally registering:

1. is price on a settled plain
2. are top 2 runners separate from the rest of the field
3. is the volume ratio consistent with the book%
4. has the current fave heavily steamed prior to the current 5 minute window

these and a few more data points that are mentally consumed are often aggregated as a *feel* for the trade and thus definitely can be difficult to automate, especially in terms of initial selection.

Jim - Having spoken to him in great depth on this, the initial speculative trades are opened based on a very simple criteria. On the ladder, where is the least amount of money waiting either side of the current odds. The software then manages these 2 trades based on a number of rules, again, very simple methodology being, which way are the current odds moving. They are left there until action is taken on 1 of them being either, offset, scratch or cancelled. Then all open trades on that selection are cancelled and the software waits for him to start the process again. Its the scratch trade that he perfected with a number of additional rules.

It now works in such a way that he can just open trades on any selection/market and be confident that the software will handle 99.9% of scenarios. The only one it doesn't handle is if the api, vps or power goes down.

I know that he initially put the project out to tender on a programming community forum and had it built by some person in Chennai for $350.

[Bluesky]

It goes something like this.

- Look up the ladder (Reversed) and see where there is not allot of money waiting and place a back bet there.
- Look down the ladder (Reversed) and see where there is not allot of money waiting and place a lay bet there.
- Manage both bets by seeing which way the odds are going. When it gets within 1 tick of your trades above then enter a lay or back bet.
- Scratch straightaway if the odds don't move up or down to take your original trades.
- Cancel any unmatched trades and repeat the process.

Yes I think this was exactly the strategy I saw the guy from the North West trading. The only extra thing I remember him saying was when the price gets within 1 tick of the trade you have previously placed, watch the money available in the 1 tick above or below box very closely. If there is a lot there then don't bother putting in the trade, wait until there is a good chance that if you submit your order its likely to get filled very quickly.

It does work rather well but you have to concentrate and be ready with your mouse to place the counter trade and/or scratch asap. With practice I got it down to around 60% profitable trades, 30% scratch trades and 10% loss trades.

I eventually got virtually identical results to these. One thing I found it helped me do was focus on the money being matched. Prior to using this strategy I thought I was paying attention to how money is matched but I soon realised I wasn't .

Personally, i think its better to manually do it as then you get a feel for how quickly the odds are moving and if money is getting matched quickly or slowly etc. Plus you LEARN how the market works.

Agree with this 100%, my market reading skills improved a great deal while using this strategy.

[jimibt]

I know that he initially put the project out to tender on a programming community forum and had it built by some person in Chennai for $350.

that possibly is quite a bargain... if it were written in a language that he/she could tweak the source code for, it'd be fairly future proof.

[cybernet69]

I know that he initially put the project out to tender on a programming community forum and had it built by some person in Chennai for $350.

that possibly is quite a bargain... if it were written in a language that he/she could tweak the source code for, it'd be fairly future proof.

Originally he thought that was allot of money.

But I don't think he is complaining too much these days.

One other thing it doesn't handle is that Rule 4 issue which we spoke about before. Apparently the scratch/cancel gets confused and costs him a few quid.

[Llosgi]

But I share it only as I find it makes my scalping effective and that has been a great relief after many other strategies have been less reliable.

I'm sorry if you though I was implying you had copied the strategy from someone else. I am gland you posted it, and it has lead to some good discussion which is what sites like this are all about. I hope you continue to enjoy great success using it.

Bluesky
No offence taken! Agree that this is what these forums are for

[Euler]

Remarkably similar to a strategy I would teach back in 2006, I reckon it's probably derived from that directly or indirectly.

[cybernet69]

Remarkably similar to a strategy I would teach back in 2006, I reckon it's probably derived from that directly or indirectly.

Perhaps a new BA video is appropriate ?