Botty Challenges

[jimibt]

So, I am still muddling along. My horse/dogs bot (it works surprisingly well on both) runs well at the moment-profit -for now.
I started to notice performance problems again though and this evening noticed how the clock was sticking and bets are being delayed. There is not much in the way of logging going on, so its not that. Processor is at 10% and memory 12% usage. I tried only adding dog markets..and performance improved. I have noticed this before. This perhaps has something to do with synchronous queuing with BF and API calls to 2 different kinds of markets,not sure, but thought I would mention it as it definitely i a problem that perhaps the BA team can look at if someone else notices it too.Different hosting providers and different machine specs-same issue. The low processor and memory usage is interesting, Thats as far as my investigation has gone.Just mentioning it for interest

is this in practice mode or live?? if practice mode, hopefully you've been adding a swarm of live bets to keep BF happy. it sounds very similar to an issue i had when my account was suspended. but then again, normally that is accompanied by an email. you can tell if this is the case mind you by checking for erratic price changes IP - this is a sure sign (in my experience).

fingers xx'd it's just a comms glitch. have a great xmas!

[mcgoo]

So, I am still muddling along. My horse/dogs bot (it works surprisingly well on both) runs well at the moment-profit -for now.
I started to notice performance problems again though and this evening noticed how the clock was sticking and bets are being delayed. There is not much in the way of logging going on, so its not that. Processor is at 10% and memory 12% usage. I tried only adding dog markets..and performance improved. I have noticed this before. This perhaps has something to do with synchronous queuing with BF and API calls to 2 different kinds of markets,not sure, but thought I would mention it as it definitely i a problem that perhaps the BA team can look at if someone else notices it too.Different hosting providers and different machine specs-same issue. The low processor and memory usage is interesting, Thats as far as my investigation has gone.Just mentioning it for interest

is this in practice mode or live?? if practice mode, hopefully you've been adding a swarm of live bets to keep BF happy. it sounds very similar to an issue i had when my account was suspended. but then again, normally that is accompanied by an email. you can tell if this is the case mind you by checking for erratic price changes IP - this is a sure sign (in my experience).

fingers xx'd it's just a comms glitch. have a great xmas!

You too thanks mate.
I only trade live now..thousands of markets over months. I have definitely seen a pattern with both kinds of markets loaded. The low processor and mem % perhaps indicates comms but the ping to the intertron is <1ms. I work with devs who have suggested that it could be queuing related but who knows. Just mentioning the observation and I can work around it with another VPS if necessary.

[foxwood]

Problem sounds like memory leaks and/or large lists. Some intensive apps I use foul up deep in .NET memory management - if I restart them every few days everything works fine - leave it running non-stop and eventually machine reboots for no discernible reason (win10 !)

Do you restart BA every day ? Or at least start another instance if the previous one is still running markets from yesterday. Another way might be to split the 149 markets into (say) 3 or 4 groups and run a separate BA instance for each group.

[mcgoo]

Problem sounds like memory leaks and/or large lists. Some intensive apps I use foul up deep in .NET memory management - if I restart them every few days everything works fine - leave it running non-stop and eventually machine reboots for no discernible reason (win10 !)

Do you restart BA every day ? Or at least start another instance if the previous one is still running markets from yesterday. Another way might be to split the 149 markets into (say) 3 or 4 groups and run a separate BA instance for each group.

Thanks for the reply. Restart BA everyday and even if I restart the machine itself the problem reoccurs.It seems to happen when different market types( dogs + horses) are concurrently loaded. I have run the bot for the last 6 hours on dogs without an issue.This is ok to do but wondered if anyone else has seen this.cheers

[mcgoo]

Still muddling along . Question that I think has been asked before (via a suggestion from what I recall) but thought I would check if there is a better way than I am using or an update coming which will handle it:
I am trying to find the best way to record the price an (my) opening trade got matched at. Currently, I use a SV to store the last traded price when my bet is placed-which usually means matched in the context I use it. The problem comes when the market is moving fast and the actual price matched can be 5-10 ticks out (different from the last traded price at the same instant-by another trader/bot)or when BF match you at a better price and that can be 10+ ticks (saw one today 13 ticks off the SV/price) out. Is there a smarter way to do this or will the next update cover it? To my mind bots are far less accurate/efficient without this capability. Have I missed something?

Thanks in advance

[mcgoo]

It seems I'll need to wait for an update..along with OR conditions and tracking available amounts would be great BA team

[BetScalper]

It seems I'll need to wait for an update..along with OR conditions and tracking available amounts would be great BA team

I been asking to have current back/lay amounts on offer for 3 years.

[mcgoo]

It seems I'll need to wait for an update..along with OR conditions and tracking available amounts would be great BA team

I been asking to have current back/lay amounts on offer for 3 years.

Yeah I know mate .I am like a dog with a bone .After over 2.5 years of solid trying with BA automation and a number of years before that with other software versions, I am starting to jade a little but remain hopeful. I still have the clock sticking issue (appears to be a memory leak) and have to restart BA regularly to fix the slowness but only with fast moving markets and complex bots. The functionality mentioned above(especially tracking available amounts) would appear to be crucial to successful automation on horses and dogs but trialling them would tell. Sports like football and tennis not so much as the score dictates price so there is less time and (independent) price movement sensitivity-and not seen similar technical issues there. I remain humble in forum company of course and understand that perhaps someone amateur has cracked it with subscription based software (in that I likely have missed the boat often) but I have a feeling one needs to code your own stuff to be (pro trader) successful at this auto game.Happy to be corrected on all fronts, naturally.The game has challenged me to be better, physically and mentally. I ran a faster 2.4 km (ex Saffa military standard distance) than I have since I was 19 the other day-this is due to wanting to get fitter to trade better so there a re benefits to trying (and I am grateful) but frustration abounds nonetheless.

PS: sorry for the lengthy reply BetScalper..in my brain I wrote "I feel ya "

[mcgoo]

having fun now
Love the latest iteration with the ability to check amounts available-awesome!! There are subtleties there that blow the mind. All I need now are the ability to record my back/lay matched prices (I think this is essential-especially in tennis or football) and OR conditions e.g. 2nd fav has drifted by 10 ticks or 3 rd fav has drifted by 5 ticks (.not essential but would make life easier and more elegant) .
The reliability of BA is to be complemented as well as the ongoing efforts to expand the functionality. I am more jaded and cynical as I get older but that and this needs to be said: I have enjoyed my journey.Thank you for providing the mechanisms.

[mcgoo]

Trying to get an opening trade when a tennis match is at 0-0 sets & 0-0 games is a bloody art form ..not sure if it is because BF turn the matches IP too late or what but at least 5 trades missed overnight.Conditions are 0-0 sets and 0-0 games, points set to Any score, selection is 0 points ahead, Lay Price is below X (which is validated as true in the log)..restrict refresh is unselected since tennis IP start times are so unreliable.This has worked on and off for months but can't work out why it ignores so many markets..any advice appreciated.Cheers

[eightbo]

All I need now are the ability to record my back/lay matched prices (I think this is essential-especially in tennis or football) and OR conditions

I am surprised these are not already a part of the software, perhaps they lie in wait on the to-do list.

[mcgoo]

All I need now are the ability to record my back/lay matched prices (I think this is essential-especially in tennis or football) and OR conditions

I am surprised these are not already a part of the software, perhaps they lie in wait on the to-do list.

Hoping....

[Bet Angel]

All I need now are the ability to record my back/lay matched prices (I think this is essential-especially in tennis or football)

Could you clarify what you mean by 'record' the prices? I'm assuming that you want to use the price that you were last matched as a basis for a future bet?

We could look into having some more stored value options. Perhaps 'amount matched of most recently placed back/lay bet on a selection' and 'average matched price of most recently placed back/lay bet on a selection' if that would be of use?

Then there the question of whether most recently 'placed' or 'matched' is important... they could be entirely different bets.

Edit: And another situation that I've just thought of is partial matching of a bet. How would you cater for only £10 of a £100 bet being matched, later to be followed by the extra £90. All matched amounts get aggregated together under the same bet reference, so there's a risk you could place an opposing bet before the first one has finished filling. Or place £10 followed by the full £100 which would throw it £10 off in the other direction.

It starts to get very complicated when there are a number of unmatched bets, placed at different prices, not necessarily filling in the order they were placed, so we'd only do this if just dealing with the most recent bet is actually of use to enough people.

I can't see that we'd ever be adding lists,queues or arrays to Automation as the compexity of implementation compared to the number of people that would actually use them; it doesn't justify the cost/time.

[mcgoo]

All I need now are the ability to record my back/lay matched prices (I think this is essential-especially in tennis or football)

Could you clarify what you mean by 'record' the prices? I'm assuming that you want to use the price that you were last matched as a basis for a future bet?
A: Yes- record the lay matched or back matched prices I was matched at when the opening trade was made

We could look into having some more stored value options. Perhaps 'amount matched of most recently placed back/lay bet on a selection' and 'average matched price of most recently placed back/lay bet on a selection' if that would be of use?
A: Yes- what price I was matched at would be of use. This is especially important in things like tennis where I need to calculate % of stake to reduce liability etc when the price has moved against or for me by x ticks but I only want to partially red or green up

Then there the question of whether most recently 'placed' or 'matched' is important... they could be entirely different bets.
A: True but this is true anyway for matched bets and a checkpoint and time since last bet etc settings potentially could sort this out

Edit: And another situation that I've just thought of is partial matching of a bet. How would you cater for only £10 of a £100 bet being matched, later to be followed by the extra £90. All matched amounts get aggregated together under the same bet reference, so there's a risk you could place an opposing bet before the first one has finished filling. Or place £10 followed by the full £100 which would throw it £10 off in the other direction.
A: Partial matched bets are a problem/dealt with anyway. A fill or kill timeout or a cancel unmatched sorts these out.Even if you are recording a SV as you can do now (by recording the last traded,back or lay price when you place the bet) you have this issue

It starts to get very complicated when there are a number of unmatched bets, placed at different prices, not necessarily filling in the order they were placed, so we'd only do this if just dealing with the most recent bet is actually of use to enough people.
A: See above .Also you only get matched at best price anyway-once- depending on how you place the bet .I only want to record the price I am matched at regardless of partial or not

I can't see that we'd ever be adding lists,queues or arrays to Automation as the compexity of implementation compared to the number of people that would actually use them; it doesn't justify the cost/time.
A: I have seen this done in other iterations of software and would appear to be fundamental to me but am open to correction/discussion. BA must record the current matched price somewhere as the ability to offset,use a stop loss or trailing stop loss would only work using ticks or % if this variable was available? It would be great to have this available as a SV so dependent calculations are accurate.I have noticed how especially in tennis when I am recording an SV (of last traded price, for example)as I place the bet, this can vary by 5 ticks or more to the actual price I got matched at...but as per below perhaps I am doing it incorrectly?

Thanks for the reply .Answers above.It is a bit late here so I hope I am clear/understanding enough and am not talking at cross purposes/missed something.As a note: my understanding is that the only way to record the price you are being matched at currently is to record a SV (by recording the last traded,back or lay price )when the bet is placed>please correct me if there is a way other than this currently.

[Bet Angel]

OK, if the matched price rather than the amount is what's important then that does reduce the significance of the partial filling issues.

When placing bets inplay with a significant inplay delay (such as tennis or football) you can easily get matched at a better price than you expected, so I can see the value of just knowing the price the last bet was matched. We'll look into adding that as a Stored Value feature.