Montyless Python

It's certainly been a while since I've posted and I'm sure if anyone is actually still reading this blog you were most likely assuming my disappearance as a cowardice retreat from the exchange markets. I know I always did when noticing similar disappearances, but now I'm thinking perhaps those prior assumptions could very well have been premature.

Although this blog was initially set up for my personal development, I feel it has since evolved to a brief online record of my progress, and going all quiet certainly does not reflect recent events. Each month is becoming increasingly more financially rewarding and I feel I have only recently started to rake in the real fruits of my labour. I'd like to think if there are any struggling hopefuls reading this out there, they may take some inspiration from my latest chapter.

So last post was 19th September 2011... and things were moving in the right direction for the next few months, however the limitations of that setup were becoming more apparent as I became really specific with my botting needs. I eventually made the decision about 6 months after that post to drop the Windows MFPro route and get my hands dirty with some real programming. It seemed the only logical solution as I was at a stage where the increased customisability was required, in addition to the warmly welcomed stability and all round efficiency of the bot. Through research I made a few good contacts offering valuable advice, with one chap in particular who has asked me not to identify him (and of course I will respect that), however this guidance back then was invaluable in giving me a kick start in the right direction. Understandably having to learn a whole new programming language felt daunting at first, this is not for anyone looking for quick returns, it took me a year to confidently make my own functional scripts, but I can say without a doubt it's definitely worth the effort if you're in this for the long haul.

The general operation is now run via the free API on a 24/7 Linux platform using Python scripts to trigger the betting strategies. My first script was a very simple generic tactic that my mysterious friend helped me shape. Looking back at it now it was never going to be a big earner but the main thing at that point was to get a bot functional in this new environment, and then push on from there. Once I learnt the language a bit better I gradually added more functionality until I was confident enough to write and run entirely new scripts to reflect my ideas. I am currently running four bots daily and am working on two new strategies.

I will have to leave it there for now and will post again soon about another big part of my process, statistical analysis. I'm a big believer in stats and run all my bots on a ROT basis. Nothing gets past the testing stage if the basic thresholds are not met. I'll talk about that in more detail next time, be sure to check back if you're interested.