Posts Tagged Bet Angel
Free Bet Angel Workshop
Posted by Peter Webb in Academy, Bet Angel on February 16th, 2012
Just a short note to let you know we still have a couple of places on the Bet Angel workshop at our offices next Monday.
http://www.bettingexchangeacademy.com/courses/academy-courses/bet-angel-workshop
The morning session is free but for a small supplement you can attend the whole day which also includes a buffet lunch.
Please contact the academy for full details if you are interested is this or future workshops.
Bet Angel on TV
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on November 7th, 2011
OK, not as glamorous as it seems, we have just sponsored a few races at Southwell today. I’m not available to attend the event but one of my guys will be there. I’ve offered him a bonus if he streaks in front of the winning post!
Never going to be great quality conditions on a Monday, but we hope we have done our bit for racing today.
Many hands make light work
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on October 21st, 2011
If you are searching for that elusive edge, have you thought about utilising Bet Angel’s many varied automated features? They say that many hands make light work and it’s true on these markets as well, even if they are virtual hands.
Using the spreadsheet functionality on Bet Angel it’s possible to construct very simple to very complex commands, instructions, tools and scripts to do pretty much whatever you want. You can also use it to test ideas or concepts fully automatically while you are busy doing something else. It’s a very useful way to explore the market or actively participate in it.
The way we have designed this tool is pretty clever as well. It’s possible to use Bet Angel’s main trading interface while the spreadsheet does it’s own thing. It can do this thanks to the way the multi market tool Guardian works. You can get Guardian to cycle around markets or load a ton of them onto one workbook for it to work on simultaneously. The advantage of this is that you could create, for example, something to look for arbs on football matches, or perhaps certain conditions on certain markets That can run automatically in the background while you work on the racing.
We have some very innovative solutions that people have put up on the forum. It’s amazing how creative people are given the right tools. Hopefully we can deliver more in the coming months.
If you are interested in how to use this functionality, then please view a few videos for the basics of how to set up and use it: -
http://www.betangel.tv/video/using-bet-angel/using-spreadsheets
You can use similar functionality on both the Betfair and Betdaq versions.
Bet Angel for Betdaq
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on October 4th, 2011
Somebody emailed me yesterday asking when we will be upgrading the Betdaq version of Betdaq. For those that were not aware, we did this in July; hence this post this morning!
Bet Angel for Betdaq is available free of charge and we were the first vendors to release a Betdaq version of our product way back in 2008. The upgrade in July was the first major upgrade we have done in a while. There are still some differences between products, but both and very similar now and you get a similar range of features and capabilities.
I’m not going to recommend you use one exchange or the other, that’s your choice. But I often use both exchanges where it makes sense on one or the other, or when liquidty, market structure or availability of certain markets suits. BetDaq Angel is availble free, so why not download and use it today.
Download by clicking here: -
http://www.betangel.com/download/
I have put up a video to show you what it looks like here: -
http://www.betangel.tv/video/using-bet-angel/getting-started/151-betdaq
The right connections
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on August 26th, 2011
First a history lesson.
A long time ago Betfair offered unfettered access to their servers. You could smash into their servers by requesting price information at will. Back then there was no API and you could only screen scrape information from Betfair. Because of this an arms race developed and Betfair considered banning the bots, but thankfully that never happened. What actually happened was an API was born and Betfair started slowly but surely changing the way their site works. From that simple start the process of connecting to Betfair now involves many hoops through which you need to jump to stay under the strict limits Betfair impose. Everybody has to conform to these limits so that no new arms race develops and Betfair can better control the IT on their side of the fence. Basically this means that Betfair limit the number of calls that API software makes so that nobody gets an unfair advantage, everything operates at the same speed. However there are things you can do to specifically tailor your exchange connection to your trading style to maximise your experiance.
To ensure you get the best connection using Bet Angel we provide you with a raw feed and allow you to tweak connection settings that are most important to you. You can save these settings and quick switch between them for maximum flexibility. For example, if you are trading pre-off you may want to increase the speed at which Bet Angel calls full market depth or reduce it when in-play and increase others, when that call it is less important. Even different locations can ‘feel’ different, so you can modify settings on that basis. Bet Angel buffers calls to avoid you running into horrendous charges, so if you accidentally, or purposefully, have the wrong set up it may feel a bit slow as the buffered calls back up. To avoid this make sure you are familiar with all the settings you can use so you can avoid this happening.
We monitor performance all the time as it is very important for everybody. But the key thing on this, is that I’d be trading toast if we didn’t have it humming. So make sure you take the time to familiarise yourself with this feature: -
http://www.betangel.tv/video/using-bet-angel/setting-up-bet-angel/147-bestconnection
Look, no hands…
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on August 19th, 2011
One upshot of Betfair’s recently decision to increase their rake from more successful users like myself is that I have revisited my love of interacting on the exchanges with spreadsheets.
I have taken some time out from ‘normal’ trading to work on spreadsheets a bit more. This is to see if I can create something that works fully automatically for me where the payoff will now be particularly high as it takes none of my time to execute. When something takes up none of your time but its profitable, then that’s a pretty good payoff. Personally I think Betfair may have accidentally created a huge incentive for bot writers and in the process converted a lot of previous manual only users to start in this area.
Even if you don’t fully automate stuff, at worst, automation is something that can make your life a bit easier . The wonder of working this way is that spreadsheets can show you more information and you can interact with the market in a form that’s easy to understand than staring at a screen full of numbers. You can in effect create your own custom view of the markets.
I’ve refreshed the spreadsheet section on Bet Angel TV so you can join in the fun too!
http://www.betangel.tv/video/using-bet-angel/using-spreadsheets
A week full of opportunities
Posted by Peter Webb in Tennis on June 26th, 2011
We are now just beyond the half way point in the year. So double what you have made so far and you end up around your annual total!
Glad I am sat here and not half drunk on some beach. OK I lied, but any regret at not getting sun burnt has been tempered by some fantastic results in the market this week. I’ve really picked up speed in June and I am heading for a great month overall. Despite taking more time off this year I am still ahead of the previous year, I must be doing something right!
The early rounds at Wimbledon have thrown up some first class opportunities. I recently waded through ten years of grand slam tennis results to look at some key metrics and it’s proved enlightening. Wimbledon has provided many opportunities already to profit, so I hope the second week picks up where the first left off. Rather than post up lots of charts here, have a look at the Wimbledon thread where I have been posting charts from matches I have been actively trading. It acts as a useful collecting point for these and should give you some interesting perspective on what I am looking at in a Tennis match.
I managed a record race this week. Not for the week, month or year, but an all time record. I can’t tell you how great that feels after so long in the market. I’ve been making good progress on complimentary activities as well this year and have learnt new things about the market in the process. Hopefully in the final six months of the year I can put some of that into practice.
Talking of practice, don’t forget to download the latest version of Bet Angel which now has a fully functional practice mode. With Wimbledon into it’s final week, why not fire up some Tennis matches and play around with Tennis Trader to get a feel for how to trade tennis. Wimbledon is just one of many tournaments with good liquidity. Before long the tour will be heading over the pond for a time zone that will mean you can trade tennis in the evening to compliment anything you do during the day.
Morning workshop
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on June 8th, 2011
Bet Angel has a ton of different functions in it. To help Bet Angel users get the most from our product. We have decided to start running some morning workshop sessions. We are doing them in the morning on quieter days when there is the least impact on the trading day and also to give you time to return to your own desks.
If you are interested in attending, you can get more information by clicking here.
Perspective
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on March 18th, 2011
A better day again at Cheltenham so I will upgrade myself to a 9/10 for yesterday’s performance. I continued my strategy of trading on both exchanges this week. I now have a headache, it’s a bit intense!
I’m looking for a 10/10 tomorrow, but I think that’s a bit of an ask; but you never know!
It’s funny, while results can look impressive year on year, you often forget how you managed to dig a result out. This year is no different and while I am probably heading for a similar total as last year (which is a surprise) it’s in a completely different way. The ability to adapt to changing conditions should never be underestimated.
One of the current problems on Betfair is that it isn’t growing. This year we are currently on just over 100% of last years volume at Cheltenham, ditto for 2009. When a market isn’t growing this creates intense competition for what scraps are left. One of the side effects of this scrap is that certain strategies are becoming viable as a result. For example backers / people dutching can now back at very close to true value now on an exchange and probably stand a pretty fair chance of long term success given even a small edge, ask for a few prices and it is very likely. This is remarkable given the risk that others take in offering these prices. But it seems a lot of the modern activities which create these prices, have been fueled by things that were effective a few years ago but which only now are popular. It’s an accident. There are a few unknowns in there as well, a few mysteries yet to be solved about quite how the market manifests itself this way.
You also need some perspective on Cheltenham. Lots of people argue that there is more genuine money in the market and this makes it more favourable. Well, yes and no. The problem is a lot of that money arrives long before some people arrive on the scene. On average this week 71% of volume at post time was already matched at the five minute marker. I looked at the first page of data from this month and found a low quality race at Folkstone that generated more in liquidity in the last five minutes than four out of the six races at Cheltenham yesterday. I can repeat this example quite easily. If you stuff up a market with lots of cash but have the same matching rate as some ‘normal’ markets, have a think about what happens and the dangers and opportunties that creates?
Anyhow, there is some perspective for you and a deeper look at these markets. It’s the Gold Cup today, so the week hits it peak and this year it’s a very competitive affair, can’t wait!
"I'd trade on Betdaq if the liquidity was better"
New communications tool
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on October 29th, 2010
I’ve created some new videos to highlight some of the new features in the latest version of Bet Angel. I will record some more in the coming week, but you can find a list of the current selection here. I have uploaded them to You Tube as well.
For some time we have allowed a lot of flexibility on how Bet Angel communicates with Betfair. This extends beyond the unique connection mode feature, to other areas of the software. As an active user of my own product, there is obviously a significant incentive to make sure it works to the best of its ability. However, it became clear that quite a few users had never made full use of these features, so when we released the latest version of the software we decided to pull all these features together in one area where you can control all them with ease. You can also save these settings to a custom profile so you can adapt your needs to each market or trading location.
The benefit of this new feature is that it’s now much easier to tweak how Bet Angel communicates with Betfair and maximise the speed at which it does so. We have also added in a new communications mode for people using poorer quality connections.
You can view more information on the following video which you can view in HD mode: -
Bet Angel 1.26 released
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on October 26th, 2010
We are pleased to announce a new beta release of Bet Angel is now available. There are a number of changes in the latest version, some of them significant.
We will post some new videos up in the next few days which will better describe the changes we have made and allow you to confidentally use the new features, but here is a summary: -
Screen Layouts – the size and position of each of Bet Angel’s windows can now be saved under a named layout. Saved layouts are displayed in a picklist in the header area of the Bet Angel trading screen so that you can quickly switch from one layout design to another. Layouts can span multiple monitors.
Settings Editor – The settings tab page has been removed and has been replaced with a new settings editor. The editor has been split into categories and now includes options from the ladder screen, chart settings and sound alerts. The Communications page has been enhanced to allow more control and optimisation of your connection and of individual data feeds. It also includes a new ‘Connection Smoothing’ process which improves the consistency of the data feeds for users on a lower bandwidth connection.
Named settings profiles – All settings can be saved under a named profile (either via the Settings menu or via the Settings editor). These proiles are available from within Bet Angel or via the log in screen when you first start the software.
Improved betfair charts – The betfair charts can now be configured to display either price or implied probability (or both) and can be synchronised with the market currently being traded or the selection being displayed on one of the ladders. The refresh rate is also configurable and all these settings will be saved under the named settings profile. The betfair charts can now be resized and their size and position will be saved with the named screen layout.
Improved advanced charts – The advanced charts now have a toolbar allowing fast switching between styles and runners . They can also be synchronised with the market currently being traded or the selection being displayed on one of the ladders. The chart style used in each chart window will be saved under the named settings profile. The advanced charts size and position will be saved with the named screen layout.
2011 UK Racing fixtures released
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on September 24th, 2010
And to be honest, after all the rhetoric, it looks better than I expected.
There is a nice summary on the BBC website: -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/9029038.stm
Bet Angel on the iPad
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on May 28th, 2010
Today saw the launch of the iPad so following my rule of ‘If it’s a gadget, new or takes two batteries’ I just had to get one. The first thing I did was put Bet Angel on it to have a play, you can see the video by clicking on this link. Bet Angel isn’t a native application on the iPad, but it is possible to get it running on it if you use the server addition of Bet Angel. I’m now going to have a busy weekend playing on the iPad itself and another new gadget that arrived from the US this morning, more on that when I have got it working properly.
Betfair have an iPhone application, but it’s a bit limited. Hopefully a better iPad app will follow.
Custom designed trading
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on February 3rd, 2010
On version 1.23 and above on Bet Angel we now have one of the most customisable and flexible trading screens on the market. You can move elements around the screen and custom define your own columns and layouts. When you have done this, you can save your layouts to a custom profile for later recall.
This is particularly handy if you want switch quickly between different markets and need some elements of the screen but not others. You can put as much or as little on the screen as you wish. This means you can drop features you find unnecessary and add ones you do! You now also have the ability to have custom columns which will inherit characteristics you define in advance. A clever feature that adds even more flexibility to your trading.
Also, if you trading pre-off and then in-play you can quickly switch between two different layouts and trading styles with a couple of clicks. These features are just the first of a number we have planned for 2010. Watch the video for an overview: -
Bet Angel – Server edition
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on October 29th, 2009
We have been quietly working away in the background recently to produce a new service that should help all Betfair traders. The server edition is hosted on a very high speed internet connection giving you a very high performance internet connection from any internet enabled device, anywhere in the world.
We have spent some time finding a suitable partner that was able to work with us to produce the package, price and performance required for our customers. For full details please visit the dedicated page on our web site: -
Posted by Peter Webb in Bet Angel on August 9th, 2009
Back at the start of this year we opened up a twitter feed. We haven’t made full use of this yet but will do soon. If you want to follow us, here is the URL: -
http://twitter.com/betangel