Testing My Strategy

Whilst trading on the horses the other day, I managed to get caught out a couple of times by a change in price move. I was trading using the ladder interface in Bet Trader pro, but my laptop had been playing up and I couldn't see the graphs very well (and I don't find them very clear anyway), so I think I missed seeing the momentum change (or perhaps there was no signal of a change, although I was trading using the momentum of the prices matching). As I am revising my eBook about trading software and bots, I have decided to add in some graphing examples and started building them. My primary goal is to be able to see the equivalent of bollinger bands (price envelopes - kind of like in Bet Angel Pro) and also some kind of momentum indicators. I've been talking about graphing applications for a while but now is the first time I've got to really get on with it. I'll include any code in the eBook and will make the executable available, if anyone wants to play with it (it won't be a battle hardened application like Bet Trader Pro or Bet Angel Pro mind!) but might be useful to run alongside. I just want to know if I am missing any signals or whether my strategy is flawed. I'm hoping that there are signals that I'm not seeing yet otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

More thoughts on Bet Trader Pro software

I've been using Bet Trader Pro some more. I must admit, now I'm getting used to using a different interface, it is proving itself to be better than what I was previously using (initially Bet Angel Basic, the Betfair Direct and the Bet IE). With Bet Trader Pro you get to see all the prices across all the runners on one screen and using the ladder interface makes place trades on easily. The best bit is the speed that it fetches and displays the prices. You can see when the price is going to move, as it flickers between the one above or below. I havn't used many of the trading tools but I didn't initially like the way they were set up and have left looking at them till later. So far it is well worth the try. I am currently using the free trial minutes but would have to consider whether the current fee is good enough value. I'll see how I go.

Ooh, Betty!

I cracked and decided I needed some more software to help me with my trading. Rather than go for Bet Angel Pro or one of the other subscription based products, I thought I'd try out one of the one off fee products I had heard good things about. I gave Bet IE Trader a go.

So, what is it like?

First of all, it has a licensing model, which involves sending an email with a code to the owner company and waiting for their reply. This isn't explained very well and seemed a bit of a strange way to go about things. Still, it worked.

In terms of the software itself, I was a little disappointed, but then again I did have very high expectations.

What I liked
I liked the weight of money graphs. These show the difference between the back and lay volumes graphically. You can easily see which way the market is pushing. This taken in addition to a graph over time gives a nice trend indication.

The ladder interface for seeing the odds and related money was very clear.

The auto hedge feature makes handling your staking easy.

The equalise button was pretty cool for greening up.

The learning mode is a clever touch, although it would be nice if it integrated in with the Betfair part of the screen (I understand why it doesn't).

What I didn't like
As a professional software developer, I am quite picky about a software package's user interface, ease of use and features. Bet IE Trader did not really impress me there and did not seem very professionally put together, windows didn't resize properly, the layout wasn't very clear.

Having half of the BetFair screen below, was not something I liked. It looked like the developers were taking a shortcut.

Overall
I'm holding my judgement until I've used it more. This was my first go with it and I'm still getting used to the ladder interface. I did accidentally make a bet I never intended, which annoyed me, but is my own fault. I'm sure it will help me improve my trading successes, which is the reason I bought it, although it does look a little amateurish.

My Plan
What I've tried doing is running Bet IE Trader and Betfair direct side by side on my two screens (I have a laptop, with its own screen and a second flat screen monitor next to it, which I extend my desktop over). This way I can see the graphs etc from Bet IE and also see the now familiar BetFair direct application.