Bitcoin Forum

I've written a primitive trading bot for MtGox.  It can earn money in some circumstances - but in general it fails probably because of the competition of other bots.  I understand that knowledge in this field is mostly kept secret - but some of it must be public.  Any links?  I am also open for cooperation.

By the way, it is fscking addictive.  Maybe I should open source it?  I have the feeling that playing this game can be like FarmVille for geeks and can generate tons of publicity for bitcoin.

I am writing a bot for trading stocks, and I would never open-source that. Defeats the purpose imo =)

There are actually some papers about trading and machine learning.

I think a problem is if everyone runs a bot with the same algo, it will affect the results... and not work so well any more. Some adaptability and also originality is required.

I suggest you open source the parts of the bot that don't contain the strategy so people can learn how to better build bots that interface with mtgox. However, do not release your actual strategy, or it'll get nuked.

+1

I also have a trading bot, it makes money (well, kind of) but does not out perform the market (so really it loses money I guess, I would have been better off just holding bitcoins). I might tidy up the code and remove the strategy and post it. But yeah it is kind of addictive, it's like sending your retarded son out into the world and seeing how he fares.

As I can see most bots think that the bitcoin exchange rate will go down all the time but it goes up. ;)

Hey, I'm interested in making a bot as well.  I've been wanting to get my feet wet in a programming language, but I'm just starting out.  As far as resources go, do you guys have any basic info that would get me started on that long journey? I think I'd like to work in java, but I'm not sure what the pros and cons of any specific language are

I am all for bot activity.  They should increase liquidity and minimize spreads.  At one point during the rally today there was a 20 cent spread.  Large spreads may be good for scalpers but they are bad the rest of the traders.

Earlier today (or yesterday rather) I noticed a bot.  It was consistently placing sell orders at $0.0001 less than the lowest ask.  If an sell order was moved to an asking price lower than that, it would re-move its order 0.0001 lower.

The ask orders had to be for an amount greater than some threshold to trigger the bot to move its asking price.  100 bitcoins was above the threshold, 10 was below.  Also, the sell order of the bot was always for 125 bitcoins.

Heh.  I bet the author is reading this..  you know who are.  And we are watching you  ;)

Sounds like a bot designed to sell 125 BTC in a reasonable time frame without directly meeting bids (eg. better price).

I'm very comfortable with Ruby, Perl, Python, and C.  If you are working on a bot in any of those languages (or others... ask) perhaps we could collaborate... send me a PM.  I'd really like to see an open source bot core that includes a few simple strategies that can be built on.  Just give it your mtgox account info and a strategy file and let it do it's thing

I found that Python is pretty easy to pick up. It lets you keep your code simple if you know how to do it right. It also makes it easier for other people to read so they understand what you are trying to do with it - if your purpose is to make something open source to get help with it.

I'm on Chapter 10 of this book. http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/index.html (http://openbookproject.net/thinkcs/python/english2e/index.html)

"I got 99 problems, but a programming language ain't one."

Languages aren't that important.... knowing programming methods and common patterns are more important.  If you know them, you can pick up any language within a few weeks of using it.

Different languages have different uses based on the way they were made. The methods and common patterns are what are more important, I agree. It's just easier to learn the concept of a programming language when it comes with a nice instruction manual. I've taken classes at different schools to "learn" different languages (C, C++, Java), but it has been the easiest course of action for me to learn at my own rate with a good tool. I'm attracted to PHP, Python, JQuery (based on JavaScript), and MySQL at this point in time given the tools I have encountered along the way. If skittixch wants to tackle Java in the long run, more power to him (assumed "him" based off his pixelated avatar). I was offering him a set of training wheels to get up on the bike and ride in the first place, based on my limited amount of knowledge. It seemed to me like he was weighing his options, window shopping for a programming language until he finds the right one for him.

On this topic of programming languages, I would love to see a Bitcoin based language develop naturally. I have an idea for one, but I don't have the skills to design/develop it yet.

Good points (although I've seen _a_lot_ of horrid PHP code, but it can be done well).  Python would indeed be one of many good choices for a bot, and probably the lowest barrier to entry choice for a fledgling programmer.

Hmm... maybe it would be a good idea to post different tutorials for different programming languages on witcoin. Then, let the community upvote the good ones to help out the beginners who want to learn.

A Bitcoin solution to a practical problem, yes?