Stop loss in-play?

[johnnycash]

Hi,
I'm trying to automate a strategy and I've got it working all apart from the stop loss. Is it just a fact of life that BetAngel will often miss a stop loss during in play horse racing due to the speed the odds can drift out at? I am putting the 'place at' figure just beyond the stop loss but is there any tactic that can make the stop loss more reliable during in-play?
Many thanks for any advice..

[PeterLe]

Johnny
I would advise not using a stop loss in play, unless its a long way from the action it will get triggered (Numerous posts on here about exactly that)..if you decide to go ahead, I predict a name change to JohnnyNoCash
Regards
Peter
(PS If you do give it a try, use the practice mode and you will see what I mean)

[johnnycash]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the reply and advice. Yes I've looked at the info about stop losses being positioned too close. What I was trying to do was create an edge by placing the stop loss a long way from the current odds so if it goes the wrong way I lose most of my stake (but not all). I've figured out my numbers and I can be profitable when I'm sat in front of my laptop. I just have a minor inconvenience of a job that tends to take up my afternoons! The problem is that with a automatic stop loss placed some distance away the market just seems to move so fast that it skips it. As I said in my first message is this just a fact of life that we can't do a reliable stop loss in this situation?
Thanks so much for any advice on this..
Kind regards,
Johnny no cash (so far)!!

[doncht]

I've seen people having issues on stop loss in play too. I'm just curios why this hasn't been taken cared of?

[CaerMyrddin]

It's not an issue with BA, it's a market feature so to speak. If you back at 2.0 and have a stop loss at 2.5 but your horse falls at a fence it will never trade at 2.5, it will go straight to 1000, so your stop loss will fire at 2.5 (as you told BA to) but you will never get matched.

[johnnycash]

Thanks for your explanation CaerMyrddin that makes complete sense now! If a horse falls then of course no one is going to match my lay bet stop loss. In a less extreme scenario I was trying to be cautious by placing a stop loss a long way (60 ticks or so) from the current odds. As the horse drifts out I could see the stop loss firing but then still remaining in the unmatched bets section so as you say everyone else will see it drifting and will not want to be placing any back bets on it.
Just one last question though.. if no one will match these stop losses how is it possible to 'red up' by clicking on the column and stopping my losses manually? All I was after was a way of stopping the action automatically on say, a £10 stake if it went red to minus £6? Surely, if it can be done manually then it can be done automatically?
Many thanks for any advice..
Johnny

[NeilSpence]

It sometimes depends what price you are stop lossing at. Anything less or around 5-6 has a good chance of getting matched as the horse isnt definately beaten and the price will come back down to meet you price. Once it hits above about 10's there arent many backers to bring it back down to the stop loss entry point as the price is only going one way.
It's a bit of a catch 22. Set it lower so it gets matched but then you have a chance of the horse coming back to win. Set it higher and the price may not get matched.
Are you able to put in a trailing stop loss, that moves up after a set period of time, maybe 5 ticks every second. It keeps going up till it gets matched.

[johnnycash]

That's great, many thanks for your advice.. back to the drawing board!!