Bots V Manual Traders

[marko236]

If you where to take the top 100 bots and put them up against the top 100 traders who would win?

Lets say you give them both a £5000 bank and they can trade as many markets as they like for a year, would the bots win because they are trading 24 hours a day, or would the manual traders win because they are in an advantage to be looking at the market and getting a better idea of what's going to happen?

It would be interresting to know what you Bot guys have to say, i think the manual traders would win the most money and the bot traders would win on the sun tans

[LeTiss]

Bots don't trade with emotions, they don't have rushes of blood to the head, they don't get hunches or have gambling problems, they don't drink alcohol, they don't get erections, they don't get distracted by TV, they don't stop to eat their dinner, or to shag the missus, or masturbate about the girl in the office, they don't have wives moaning about the grass needs cutting, they don't suffer with fatigue/depression/boredom/or other mental issues, they operate quicker than humans and can react quicker.

However, they can be tricked into making mistakes when somebody has worked out what triggers their actions

[marko236]

I can see your point on bots getting tricked it's easy to see the poor ones, but the best bots hide and they in turn can play tricks too.

[Archangel]

I agree with that. The thing about bots is that they are programmed to perform a specific action or actions. Anything thats predictable can be taken advantage of by a human

[PeterLe]

Bots every time imo.
The original Uberbot was making about £100K/Month and not exactly a BOT as such; but betfair was making £300K/Month(?) on an element of cross matching i seem to recall (before they admitted it)
the thing is; you will never get to hear of the profits being made by the very top traders

[Euler]

Bot's can't watch pictures or see the action, so there will always be an edge for manual traders.

[bru]

Hello Euler,

Congratulations on your 10000th post - quite a milestone

All good stuff.

Look forward to the next 10000!

[Kalumpus]

And what about old fashioned punters? (yes they exist)backers/layers. Some of whom successfully prey on bots and traders

[Euler]

Congratulations on your 10000th post - quite a milestone

Thanks I hadn't noticed

[Euler]

I think there is a place for both in the markets.

On Inplay racing I know I can't beat the people at the track but I can exploit there enthusiasm to back or lay things too quickly so I created some automation to do that. It can nip in much quicker than I can spot an imbalance.

But as I mentioned further up looking at pictures can tell you a great deal about a sport as well and that is where manual traders will always beat the bots. Also never underestimate the ability of a human to quickly discount all factors into a trade. I've always made the vast majority of my money through manually trading the markets.

If you look at the evolution of Bet Angel though you can see we've created a hybrid tool so you can get the best of both worlds. You need every edge you can get in the markets.

[lord]

These bots have been a bonus to the Manual Trader, they in many cases limit the upside to a trade. As we know not all trades are going to be profitable, but I have found that 1 or 2 trades a day will be the big winners, the others are just average so small wins or small losses. Not taking advantage of the "big" winners can serious affect your profit. The manual trader can make a rational judgement, whereas the bot can only follow inputted rules. If you are disciplined with the downside and open to the upside you should profit. However ultimately the question dosen't need to be asked, all you need to do is concentrate on your own trading style and continuously improve in whatever way suits you and returns you the biggest profits.

[gazuty]

Bots don't trade with emotions, they don't have rushes of blood to the head, they don't get hunches or have gambling problems, they don't drink alcohol, they don't get erections, they don't get distracted by TV, they don't stop to eat their dinner, or to shag the missus, or masturbate about the girl in the office, they don't have wives moaning about the grass needs cutting, they don't suffer with fatigue/depression/boredom/or other mental issues, they operate quicker than humans and can react quicker.

Well said.

However, they can be tricked into making mistakes when somebody has worked out what triggers their actions

Indeed. My tip. In developing a bot apply rules to ensure all aspects of the market will exist. Don't assume it will exist. So learn in the manual context, observe the market, then automate.

I'm constantly battling counter bots that react to my moves in the market. It's fun and a battle of the mind and ideas. Long may it continue.

[Archangel]

I would be surprised if there is a bot sophisticated enough to match the human brain. A bot needs to follow a set of instructions exactly, but what happens when something outside those instructions happens, it has no capacity to think for itself.

[Disco]

Simple guess is:
Bot wins when reaction speed matters.
Human wins when complicated decisions matter.

[Euler]

I'd say that is generally right. Even better to use the bot to trigger an action then the human decide when to dump it!