Open source trading bot?

[imperi]

I was just thinking this would be a cool idea to make. It would be in Python. I might do this, if just for fun.

[jostmey]

I like the idea. Depending on the options and features that you would put into the bot, it could act to stabilize the currency.

[DamienBlack]

I like the idea. Depending on the options and features that you would put into the bot, it could act to stabilize the currency.

Most likely, many people using a similar bot would destabilize it. If all the bots think "sell" or "buy" at once, the swings just get bigger.

[angelo95]

Bot have to be custom made or are useless.

[kookiekrak]

the trading platform could be opensource, then people would just write their own automated trading bots

[DamienBlack]

Bot have to be custom made or are useless.

What makes you say that? As I understand it, many wall street bots use the same formulas. And if the open source package was very customizable it could be tailored to your needs. I don't see the rational behind such a blanket statement.

[imperi]

Ok, I'm definitely going to work on this. If someone could make a brief list of simple features to start with, that would be helpful. It will start out as pure CLI. Eventually I think it would be cool to tweak different custom options and have mock visual graphs of what would happen if enabled, with the trade data that took place.

[imperi]

Ok, I'm definitely going to work on this. If someone could make a brief list of simple features to start with, that would be helpful. It will start out as pure CLI. Eventually I think it would be cool to tweak different custom options and have mock visual graphs of what would happen if enabled, with the trade data that took place.

THere is already a php library for mtgox trading.... maybe might make more sense to write in in cli php?  Or are you more comfortable with python?

Python is better, I'm going to stick with it. The "php library" for Mtgox is a PHP page that is rendered by the server into plain text or JSON. It isn't PHP code, I believe.

[imperi]

Ok, I'm definitely going to work on this. If someone could make a brief list of simple features to start with, that would be helpful. It will start out as pure CLI. Eventually I think it would be cool to tweak different custom options and have mock visual graphs of what would happen if enabled, with the trade data that took place.

THere is already a php library for mtgox trading.... maybe might make more sense to write in in cli php?  Or are you more comfortable with python?

Python is better, I'm going to stick with it. The "php library" for Mtgox is a PHP page that is rendered by the server into plain text or JSON. It isn't PHP code, I believe.

was referring to this:

https://github.com/mikegogulski/bitcoin-php/blob/master/src/bitcoin.inc

I am going to make it from scratch. That PHP code doesn't do much except access the Mtgox API.

[gnaget]

Please do this, if it catches on, I'll have a blast writing a counter bot to take advantage of the predictable buying and selling patterns

[angelo95]

Bot have to be custom made or are useless.

What makes you say that? As I understand it, many wall street bots use the same formulas. And if the open source package was very customizable it could be tailored to your needs. I don't see the rational behind such a blanket statement.

Because the bot programming itself is part of the strategy. If everyone uses the same bot, everyone uses the same algos with just some tuned parameters...
Guys at Wallstreet don't use the same autotraders, they pay IT guys to develop tailor made strategies with quants.

[kookiekrak]

salaries for automated trading programmers are like 100k-300k

what i've seen is a platform that interfaces with exchanges, created in either c++ or java. then people can write trading bots in c++ or java and execute them on the platform.

look into stock or forex AT platforms.

[imperi]

I will keep you guys posted.

[SgtSpike]

I'd definitely like to see such a bot in place.

[imperi]

I'm thinking of making it so you can define lots of custom rules.

Like "If X indicator is above this, then do Y". Or "wait until time > Saturday morning, then execute this different behavior".

So you tell the Bot how you want it to act, and you can also simulate it on past market data. Everyone has different amounts to invest and different levels of risk, and they might have beliefs of where the price will go that are not just pure mathematics, so one algorithm wouldn't fit all.

[SgtSpike]

I'm thinking of making it so you can define lots of custom rules.

Like "If X indicator is above this, then do Y". Or "wait until time > Saturday morning, then execute this different behavior".

So you tell the Bot how you want it to act, and you can also simulate it on past market data. Everyone has different amounts to invest and different levels of risk, and they might have beliefs of where the price will go that are not just pure mathematics, so one algorithm wouldn't fit all.

Absolutely.  1 algorithm would just mean that whichever bot was able to initiate the trade first wins.  It might even come down to ping times to MtGox/Tradehill.  Customizable algorithms, with NO defaults, would be the best route to go.

[Gareth Nelson]

I'm a huge believer in free software myself, but this is a bad idea.
Yes, a general toolkit library would be useful (and they exist already - see the python mtgox modules on github), but a generic autotrader bot would not be profitable once it reaches a certain mass, and while people could modify it, in practice most won't.

Much better would be a good framework combining the mtgox+tradehill+whatever API with a selection of statistical and machine learning algorithms and then not defining ANY strategies.

[Olomana]

I was working on a trading bot before the Mt. Gox disaster.  My biggest problem was error handling and recovery... timeouts, partial fills, etc.  If you do a toolkit, that would be the most valuable part.

The Mt. Gox API, the trading algorithm... relatively easy compared to error handling.

(Since Mt. Gox came back online, prices have been relatively flat and my algorithm doesn't make many trades, so I haven't resumed work on the bot.)

[angelo95]

the trading algorithm... relatively easy
my algorithm doesn't make many trades

Actually the algo IS the hardest past in a bot. It took me three hours to code the bot and 2 months to create the algo.

[bitfreak!]

the trading algorithm... relatively easy
my algorithm doesn't make many trades

Actually the algo IS the hardest past in a bot. It took me three hours to code the bot and 2 months to create the algo.

Yes, but error handling would be fairly hard too. I can see what Olomana was getting at.

edit: I have actually wanted to create a trading bot a while now, but if I did it would be one of the only projects I don't release as open source (for several reasons). The way I wanted to do it is develop some PHP scripts which are actually controlled (triggered) by a desktop application (in Delphi 7) which also allows you to heavily tweak the configuration of the bot, display important graphs, and all sorts of other nifty features.