(Closed) Butter Bot!: Premier Bitstamp, and BTC-E EMA Trading Platform (Closed)

[fible1]

I am pushing for profiles in the next version, should not be a problem .

Pablo.

Have the new hired staff been completed? Can we expect an accelerated release schedule of new or planned features?

Hi PuertoLibre ,
       We are trial testing some new developers, if that works out over the next couple of weeks, then yes; you can definitely expect a faster release schedule . It all depends on the new candidates working out however.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Pablo.

[fible1]

Pablo,

I am a big fan of the simplicity of the bot. I strongly believe in simple, emotionally detached trading systems, which is exactly what this bot allows for.

If I could make a couple of quick suggestions:

1. It would be an excellent feature to set volume parameters, as the EMA system is not very effective in sideways markets. I believe this could help identify stronger incoming trends and leave out weak sideways choppiness.

2. The backtesting feature is nice, however, it would be awesome to be able to customize time frames. Instead of backtesting the past x months, it would be great to be able to back test a specified period such as 4.10.2013 - 8.09.2013. This would make testing different settings in different market conditions significantly simpler.

I apologize if any of these suggestions have already been made as I did not take the time to read through all 83 pages of this thread!

Hi Bitcopia :=),
 
1. Yes, this is one way to improve the strategy in  a sideways market, we are looking at this and other possibilities for our overhaul of the trading engine; we should have something to show on this early next year .

2. Definitely agreed, I hope we can add this to the next upgrade.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions .

Pablo.

[Naelr]

After buying the 1 year license, putting it in and restarting chrome now it says next to the little triangle

API: connected
MTGOX: disconnected
BTC-E:disconnected
BITSTAMP: disconnected

My API's for gox and btc-e are correct... am I good or is there a network problem right now?

The fact that the bot knows what my balances on both sites are I am gonna guess good but it doesn't look right.

Naelr

[Jazkal]

I'm testing Butter Bot trial right now with BTC-e, so far so good. I have very high hopes for this Bot. Quick Question, do you have any thoughts of making this Bot work with Cryptsy, I would be totally sold if I could use it to trade Alt currencies.

Hi Bitezze ,
   We have plans to let the bot trade with alt currencies on BTC-E with the next full release. We have been getting an increasing number of questions about Cryptsy; we will look into this in greater detail and see what we can do about it, it looks very interesting.

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this .

Pablo.

Any updates on your Cryptsy addition?

[NginUS]

After buying the 1 year license, putting it in and restarting chrome now it says next to the little triangle

API: connected
MTGOX: disconnected
BTC-E:disconnected
BITSTAMP: disconnected

My API's for gox and btc-e are correct... am I good or is there a network problem right now?

The fact that the bot knows what my balances on both sites are I am gonna guess good but it doesn't look right.

Naelr

It should say 'connected' for at least one of the exchanges. Check that it has your API key & Secret key entered, and that the API has the correct permissions on the exchange. On BTC-e the permissions it needs are 'info' & 'trade'. Not sure about the other ones.

[psyclon]

could someone post real results for different settings?

[rammy2k2]

i wouldnt really recommend this bot unless u stay connected 24/7 .. otherwise it will just loose your money

[Jazkal]

i wouldnt really recommend this bot unless u stay connected 24/7 .. otherwise it will just loose your money

That is a primary assumption is it not?

[rammy2k2]

i wouldnt really recommend this bot unless u stay connected 24/7 .. otherwise it will just loose your money

That is a primary assumption is it not?

nope, i tested it, if he sells BTC at 900$ , for example, and u shut down computer , on next restart he will buy BTC at 1000$ with no problem ...

[OleOle]

i wouldnt really recommend this bot unless u stay connected 24/7 .. otherwise it will just loose your money

That is a primary assumption is it not?

nope, i tested it, if he sells BTC at 900$ , for example, and u shut down computer , on next restart he will buy BTC at 1000$ with no problem ...

If you're running mining software 24/7, it's not a big deal to have the bot running all the time. Checking how the miners are doing is a bit of a ritual and extending that to checking on how the bot is doing is great fun and I find myself nodding my head and grinning with the miners and bot just doing their thing, I kick back and smile some more.

-----

And following on from the earlier comments above about settings, I'm trialling these settings on the Bitstamp exchange, they're an ever so slight modification of the numbers suggested by NginUS and I was curious about the suggestion to try negative numbers so this is what I'll run with for the next few days:

Short EMA: 7
Long EMA: 15
Frequency: 2 Hours
Buy Thresholds: -0.05/0.25
Sell Thresholds: -0.05/0.1
Tick Offset: Anything

I've waited a few days to double check my earlier settings and my conclusion is that I was being to aggressive using the starter settings with a 15 minute frequency, it just didn't play out and most trades would clip a small loss and obviously there's only a finite amount of time you can do that without having to add more funds to the account, but I wanted to give it a reasonable test on those previous 'modified starter' settings as I'd been tweaking them probably too often and sometimes you have to see what it is you're doing wrong, before you can start getting things right.

These new settings seem to back test well over a year, not that great over a week (although who can really argue with a 14% gain in a week?), but any profit right now will be better than the losses that I've been sustaining, losses I might add, that I am sure are down to 'user error' rather than any problems with the functionality of the bot and like I said earlier, I'm only using a small amount of money while I climb the learning curve. I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Thanks very much once again for all your help folks, it is greatly appreciated.

[tolega]

i wouldnt really recommend this bot unless u stay connected 24/7 .. otherwise it will just loose your money

That is a primary assumption is it not?

If you're running mining software 24/7, it's not a big deal to have the bot running all the time. Checking how the miners are doing is a bit of a ritual and extending that to checking on how the bot is doing is great fun and I find myself nodding my head and grinning with the miners and bot just doing their thing, I kick back and smile some more.

-----

And following on from the earlier comments above about settings, I'm trialling these settings on the Bitstamp exchange, they're an ever so slight modification of the numbers suggested by NginUS and I was curious about the suggestion to try negative numbers so this is what I'll run with for the next few days:

Short EMA: 7
Long EMA: 15
Frequency: 2 Hours
Buy Thresholds: -0.05/0.25
Sell Thresholds: -0.05/0.1
Tick Offset: Anything

I've waited a few days to double check my earlier settings and my conclusion is that I was being to aggressive using the starter settings with a 15 minute frequency, it just didn't play out and most trades would clip a small loss and obviously there's only a finite amount of time you can do that without having to add more funds to the account, but I wanted to give it a reasonable test on those previous 'modified starter' settings as I'd been tweaking them probably too often and sometimes you have to see what it is you're doing wrong, before you can start getting things right.

These new settings seem to back test well over a year, not that great over a week (although who can really argue with a 14% gain in a week?), but any profit right now will be better than the losses that I've been sustaining, losses I might add, that I am sure are down to 'user error' rather than any problems with the functionality of the bot and like I said earlier, I'm only using a small amount of money while I climb the learning curve. I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Thanks very much once again for all your help folks, it is greatly appreciated.

I am quite a n00b when comes to bot but your settings seem to bring a return of around ~1550% in a 1 year Bitstamp engine test.
The settings I am using shows a return of ~11000% on BTC-E and 6000% on Bitstamp when doing a one year engine test.

I believe my numbers are still low and there is ample room for improvement but what I got when running your numbers was that it could be much better.

[fible1]

After buying the 1 year license, putting it in and restarting chrome now it says next to the little triangle

API: connected
MTGOX: disconnected
BTC-E:disconnected
BITSTAMP: disconnected

My API's for gox and btc-e are correct... am I good or is there a network problem right now?

The fact that the bot knows what my balances on both sites are I am gonna guess good but it doesn't look right.

Naelr

Hey Naelr ,
   99.5% of the time this is caused by one of two things:

1. Your key and/or secret were copied incorrectly.
2. Your API keys were not given both "trade" and "get info" privileges on BTC-E (Bitstamp in contrast requires 6 permissions).

Please drop me an email if that doesn't help, I will be happy to help you from there .

Pablo.
Pablo@Butter-Bot.com

[tnkflx]

Currently using following settings on MtGox:

Short EMA: 10
Long EMA: 21
Frequency: 30 minutes
Buy Thresholds: 0/0.25
Sell Thresholds: 0/0.25
Tick Offset: Anything

I always seem to make a small loss here... any idea what I might be doing wrong?

[fible1]

Currently using following settings on MtGox:

Short EMA: 10
Long EMA: 21
Frequency: 30 minutes
Buy Thresholds: 0/0.25
Sell Thresholds: 0/0.25
Tick Offset: Anything

I always seem to make a small loss here... any idea what I might be doing wrong?

Hi Tnkflx .
  As previously discussed on the thread, EMA will actually make about 70% small loss trades and 30% profit trades (which should cover any losses plus a healthy profit over the long term). So this is expected behavior, please keep in mind that we are talking of this as expected behavior over the long term, whatever you see in the very short term is likely the result of mraket randomness; you need to look at long term results to identify trends.

Please let me know if you need anything at all .

Pablo.

[joefox]

Currently using following settings on MtGox:

Short EMA: 10
Long EMA: 21
Frequency: 30 minutes
Buy Thresholds: 0/0.25
Sell Thresholds: 0/0.25
Tick Offset: Anything

I always seem to make a small loss here... any idea what I might be doing wrong?

I have generally found the volatility at MtGox to cause issues with intervals less than 1 hour.  Most of the time I run it at 2 hours, and FYI I use a 9/17 EMA split instead of a 10/21 in order to make the trend lines a bit more sensitive at that interval.  I've seen some others use a 7/15, but I haven't really tried that.

Also, as Pablo points out:  using EMA trading, about 70% of your trades will be small losses.  It's the 30% of large-gain trades that will compensate you in the long term -- and EMA trading is a long-term strategy. 

There are ways to minimize the small losses if you're thoughtful, keep on top of the market data, and adjust your settings once in a while.  For the last two days or so, for example, the MtGox market has been VERY sideways (the EMA diffs and price fluctuations are small, and the trendlines *slightly* cross over and over again; also, the trading volumes are low).  At times like this, I generally like to pause the bot and hold on to my Bitcoin; when the volumes pick up again (likely Sunday night, when China starts a new week), I will unpause it and let the bot take over.  Another option would be to temporarily increase the buy/sell thresholds to keep the bot from trading. 

[tolega]

Currently using following settings on MtGox:

Short EMA: 10
Long EMA: 21
Frequency: 30 minutes
Buy Thresholds: 0/0.25
Sell Thresholds: 0/0.25
Tick Offset: Anything

I always seem to make a small loss here... any idea what I might be doing wrong?

I have generally found the volatility at MtGox to cause issues with intervals less than 1 hour.  Most of the time I run it at 2 hours, and FYI I use a 9/17 EMA split instead of a 10/21 in order to make the trend lines a bit more sensitive at that interval.  I've seen some others use a 7/15, but I haven't really tried that.

Also, as Pablo points out:  using EMA trading, about 70% of your trades will be small losses.  It's the 30% of large-gain trades that will compensate you in the long term -- and EMA trading is a long-term strategy. 

There are ways to minimize the small losses if you're thoughtful, keep on top of the market data, and adjust your settings once in a while.  For the last two days or so, for example, the MtGox market has been VERY sideways (the EMA diffs and price fluctuations are small, and the trendlines *slightly* cross over and over again; also, the trading volumes are low).  At times like this, I generally like to pause the bot and hold on to my Bitcoin; when the volumes pick up again (likely Sunday night, when China starts a new week), I will unpause it and let the bot take over.  Another option would be to temporarily increase the buy/sell thresholds to keep the bot from trading. 

Wouldn't pausing the bot be like restarting it? This way it is like starting from 0 all over again?

[Naelr]

After buying the 1 year license, putting it in and restarting chrome now it says next to the little triangle

API: connected
MTGOX: disconnected
BTC-E:disconnected
BITSTAMP: disconnected

My API's for gox and btc-e are correct... am I good or is there a network problem right now?

The fact that the bot knows what my balances on both sites are I am gonna guess good but it doesn't look right.

Naelr

Hey Naelr ,
   99.5% of the time this is caused by one of two things:

1. Your key and/or secret were copied incorrectly.
2. Your API keys were not given both "trade" and "get info" privileges on BTC-E (Bitstamp in contrast requires 6 permissions).

Please drop me an email if that doesn't help, I will be happy to help you from there .

Pablo.
Pablo@Butter-Bot.com

They were working during the trial... but for some reason after I put in the new license key after I bought it they stopped.. I recreated new API's and copied my keys and secrets  and now they are connected... thanks everyone.  It would appear it "forgot" the secret keys.

Naelr

[seanrarey]

Currently using following settings on MtGox:

Short EMA: 10
Long EMA: 21
Frequency: 30 minutes
Buy Thresholds: 0/0.25
Sell Thresholds: 0/0.25
Tick Offset: Anything

I always seem to make a small loss here... any idea what I might be doing wrong?

I have generally found the volatility at MtGox to cause issues with intervals less than 1 hour.  Most of the time I run it at 2 hours, and FYI I use a 9/17 EMA split instead of a 10/21 in order to make the trend lines a bit more sensitive at that interval.  I've seen some others use a 7/15, but I haven't really tried that.

Also, as Pablo points out:  using EMA trading, about 70% of your trades will be small losses.  It's the 30% of large-gain trades that will compensate you in the long term -- and EMA trading is a long-term strategy. 

There are ways to minimize the small losses if you're thoughtful, keep on top of the market data, and adjust your settings once in a while.  For the last two days or so, for example, the MtGox market has been VERY sideways (the EMA diffs and price fluctuations are small, and the trendlines *slightly* cross over and over again; also, the trading volumes are low).  At times like this, I generally like to pause the bot and hold on to my Bitcoin; when the volumes pick up again (likely Sunday night, when China starts a new week), I will unpause it and let the bot take over.  Another option would be to temporarily increase the buy/sell thresholds to keep the bot from trading. 

Wouldn't pausing the bot be like restarting it? This way it is like starting from 0 all over again?

No, it is not.  It does exactly what it says; pauses.

I also use this feature, in fact, am "paused" now as well.  The important thing to remember is to "unpause" only when the bot is in the same status as when you paused; i.e. green if you are in, red if you are out.  The exception is when you actually want to trigger the instant trade that will result from un-pausing the bot in an opposing position.

[joefox]

Wouldn't pausing the bot be like restarting it? This way it is like starting from 0 all over again?

No! Not at all.  By "pause" I mean that I leave the bot running, but disable the trading engine.  That way the bot won't make trades when I don't want it to.  I just re-enable the trading engine when I want it to kick back in.

It's not "starting over" at all.  My profits don't disappear just because I pause the software!

[NginUS]

Does anyone here do any kind of trading in addition to trading bitcoin with ButterBot? I'm wondering about learning/tinkering with something new. Like day trading on the stock narket maybe.

If anyone knows about that, could you recommend a trading bot & an exchange (or equivalent- whatever they're called) please?

Thanks.