running through close trade

[stefan084]

hi all, kind of a weird question but is it possible for in-play horse racing automation to be successful? The close trade rules fire but sometimes don't get matched quick enough which is then a complete loss. I would like to try putting both the back and lay part of my bets at the same time, for instance put a $1 lay bet at 8.0 and a $2 back bet at 4.0, so that the hedge bet is already in the market and doesn't have to wait to be fired. In the above example, I would lose $1 should the odds of the back bet drop to 4.0 and win $1 if they drifted out. If anyone has even a tiny bit of advice I'll take it

[ShaunWhite]

hi all, kind of a weird question but is it possible for in-play horse racing automation to be successful?

Short answer is Yes.

Closing is always the tricky part imo. Best advice I've got (not my specialist area) would be to have your close fire multiple times, better to lose more than planned rather than it all. Over lots of races some will close at worse odds, some will close it better. I'm afraid it's one of those things you need to accept because nobody here(?) is hitting exactly the odds they'd like much of the time in such a fast moving market.

Putting both sides in together is a good idea too but obviously doesn't suit a lot of strategies.

[stefan084]

yeah the thing is I do have the close trade to fire multiple times, but if you say it is possible to in-play trade then the madness continues. I will just have to keep studying and asking questions. just wanted to say thanks again to people like dallas, shaun, jim etc that take the time to try to help.

[spreadbetting]

Personally I don't think trading is the best way to approach in play horse racing, depending on how desperate you are to close you'll most likely end up throw away any value you've managed to get from your opening trades. The problem with trading in running is you'll most likely put all the effort into the opening trade but little effort other than some stock set of ticks to close, that may or not be value and may or not even be matched.

[stefan084]

if under Parameters I put in "Custom Percentage Below Actual Starting Price" and then put in 50%, would that not work?