Help Betfair have restricted my account

[BetScalper]

I gave up on the idea of manually trading years ago as I just can't get the hang of it. It doesn't matter how good the signs are one trade will always go the wrong way and wipeout all profits.

Therefore the only reason that I occassionally dip into Bet Angel is because of the dream that one day I will work out the perfect automation programme that is profitable.

I will probably give up again soon as it is proving to be elusive but without practice mode any project is a non-starter. Some of my automations risk huge losses so how can I test them without a practice mode?

With all due respect the baf files that Dallas releases are all designed for practice mode because none of them actually make a profit. So we are supposed to blindly go live with an automation file that we know is going to lose us money? (This is based on experience and the well known fact that nobody is going to give away a profitable system for free.)

So perhaps Bet Angel should withdraw the automation side of the package as for the vast majority of users it is leading us on a time-wasting frustrating journey that we are now advised is going to cost us a fortune in losses to Betfair?

There is no point to practice mode whatsoever because your money is not in the market, so others cannot react to it.

I have many bots which make profits in practice mode but switch to live and they all fail bar 1.

Dallas templates are excellent learning tools but it also requires allot of hard work and time to convert then to profitable fully automated bots. The majority will never succeed and are basically wasting their time and money.

Anyway, having a fully automated bot is dangerous. What happens if the Betfair api starts playing up, will your bot cope ?

Having said that most people fail because they are over complicating things. Just enter the market on a coin flip and spend ones time refining your exits!

Enjoy.

[ruthlessimon]

A 1 tick loss every other day (maybe even twice a week) on a sub 1.20 market (i.e. 5p loss), & I think it'll take that trader about 30yrs before he/she reaches a £300 total loss.

I've yet to see someone get limited deploying such a strategy.

It's always that they never traded for weeks, or had a tiny bank.

[Derek27]

With all due respect the baf files that Dallas releases are all designed for practice mode because none of them actually make a profit. So we are supposed to blindly go live with an automation file that we know is going to lose us money? (This is based on experience and the well known fact that nobody is going to give away a profitable system for free.)

So perhaps Bet Angel should withdraw the automation side of the package as for the vast majority of users it is leading us on a time-wasting frustrating journey that we are now advised is going to cost us a fortune in losses to Betfair?

I don't use automation, but I believe Dallas posted the sample files as just that, samples that you can modify and tinker with, to suit your style of trading.

I know from all the posts I've read on this forum, and I read most of them, that many people are very successful with automation. It's just like manual trading, in that some have more success than others or some fail.

If your automation is failing, perhaps you should focus more on research and refining it, rather than either, rolling it out live or getting stuck endlessly in practice mode.

[pythonic]

The practice mode is meant for a first technical test of software, not to test strategies against the market IMO.

[ruthlessimon]

I have many bots which make profits in practice mode but switch to live and they all fail bar 1.

Not for me.

& that's why I actually quite like a simulated environment. I can make immediate R&D savings - which is just as valid an edge as improving a working strategy imo. I believe most swingers (who treat practice mode with respect) - & can't profit - have an edge over those facing the same problems live (i.e. not losing as much). Peter would probably disagree with that though

Take this strategy below. Immediately I can see "exit strategy 2" has 0 chance of working live. Whereas exit strategy 1 looks promising & worth an investment. Even if it doesn't work - hopefully it'll be break-even at worst.

[ShaunWhite]

Not everyone has the data or the skills to do that upfront simon, for them the best way is to accept a small investment cost and give it a spin in live rather than doing it for free in practice and not learning much. If they want to go via your route then the time/money cost would be be better spend on acquiring the skills, but that requires a certain amount of conviction that it's eventually going to pay off or suit them better.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, though some ways are messier.

[ruthlessimon]

fair points certainly. The risks of my approach have been highlighted by a lot of people. & i myself do tend to lean more on the "I won't trade it just yet... can I make it any better first" - which is a dangerous mentality.

That said, I've made more gains in knowledge, in the last 2 mths, than the last 2 yrs. & I was pretty much trading every race back in 2017 (got a full set of videos ). The approach you mentioned just didn't work for me (hence my bias towards quanting!!).

My trading was extremely stale in 2017 - but my best trades have always been the quantitative ones (hence why I love BA, & am drawn to traders such as Dallas & Peter as my mentors - vs. someone like CB). & in fact that was actually why I joined BA - because I didn't used to. & I can never see myself leaving BA - it's simply a fundamental part of my trading now - & it does have a lovely interface

I just really do struggle with subjective decisions - unless I understand the workings. i.e. "Only trade good ranges" - I have to know what a "good range" looks like, roughly, with some quantitative variables (i.e. the shape, volume amounts etc). "Only back the a runner when the another runner drifts" - how are we defining drift, how are we defining "runner"? etc Drift to me, is different to a drift to you. But a drift of -2%, suddenly we both know what "drift" means.

I personally don't have the skills to answer those questions, subjectively/discretion/feel, in a live market

May have rambled, soz lads - aint got nothing to do with restrictions that

[ruthlessimon]

Not everyone has the data or the skills to do that upfront simon

No they don't.. & neither do I

The vast majority of my stuff is outsourced in bits - which I then just merge together.

Like in Thunderbirds when TB2 was shot down. Jeff buys the parts from different vendors, but only he can see the sum of those parts

For example, the guy who made this formula for me:

'=IF(Sheet2!C3*(XB3-XF3)/XF3>0,Sheet2!C3*(XB3-XF3)/XF3*0.95,Sheet2!C3*(XB3-XF3)/XF3)'

Didn't have a clue it was for! But to me, is a powerful edge breaker

[George Clift]

I have a question regarding restrictions on Betfair Sportsbook.
If I had an in-play edge, that did not take value with regards to price, but had a really high strike rate in comparison to the odds being offered, would I be likely to have any restrictions placed on my Sportsbook account, once I started making regular profits?
To re-iterate, no value is being taken with regards to odds. There is no Arbing involved.

[oliver123]

Well, I have been on Betfair since 2006 and have never had a problem - never!

[BetScalper]

I have a question regarding restrictions on Betfair Sportsbook.
If I had an in-play edge, that did not take value with regards to price, but had a really high strike rate in comparison to the odds being offered, would I be likely to have any restrictions placed on my Sportsbook account, once I started making regular profits?
To re-iterate, no value is being taken with regards to odds. There is no Arbing involved.

The only time I got restricted on the sports book was when I was arbing between the Betfair Exchange and the Betfair Sportsbook on greyhounds.

[George Clift]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Any more thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Has anyone here been restricted on Betfair Sportsbook, for consistently winning, not Arbing?