Geeks Toy - Free Trading Software

 
I'm sure many of you have already heard of The Geeks Toy and maybe used the beta versions.  But if not you should get over there NOW and try it out!!!



The Geek has released The Toy Version 1!
                       

If you want a bit of background to the product and the man behind it, and why it's free etc. this thread on The Geeks Toy forum explains it

http://www.geekstoy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=875

As well as being a free trading application (that in my opinion is way ahead of the alternatives for manual trading) there is also a traders forum where traders can exchange ideas and opinions, offer and seek advice, and you can openly discuss/praise/criticise any trading products you like.

And it will be free at least until the end of 2010



I'm now in Switzerland and Germany skiing for the next 3 weeks (it's a tough job but someone has to do it) so I may not be updating the blog much until January when normal trading and blog service will be resumed.



And here's a video:


 

Time for a KitKat

Have got too many distractions at the moment and the tennis finishes this month anyway.

I've been consistently making steady profits on the horses and dogs and then throwing them away with stupid screw ups.

I'm not making any progress at the moment, I have learnt loads but I'm not yet applying what I have learnt consistently enough. I can't keep wasting so much of my time to earn +/- £5 a week.

What I need is a reasonably long break from trading and then to come back completely fresh for a new start. Four weeks will be enough.

I may post some ski pictures before January and/or other random stuff, and I will carry on with data analysis looking for statistical trades, but no more manual trading until after Christmas.

Here's this months P&L graph (just to give you a laugh)



If it wasn't for the two internet crashes on the 18th/19th I'd still be in profit, but only by about £10 so even then it's not exactly much return for 4 weeks!

Today's trading was just a complete joke, and my mind was elsewhere on other things that I need to get sorted out...

Back soon!

Girl From Mars

Collected a new boat today and had a fun filled drive through torrential rain round the M25 and up the A1.

Heard a song that I haven't heard for ages on the radio on the way back so that's why you have Girl From Mars on the video.

Maybe a trading related posts tomorrow...

Then There Were Three

Have now got 3 systems programmed into the bot, although one of them requires a larger bank so that won't be activated unless the other two build up some profits first...

Also transferred the last 4 years Dog data into my database today and will be running some analysis on that this week.

Lots of work over the weekend, which makes up for some of the cancellations due to bad weather earlier in the week.

Not sure how much trading I'll get done this week as I have lots to do, but should be able to do some tennis and a couple of dog races.

And that's about it... Nothing much else has happened this weekend...

Virgin Suck!

Two days in a row I lose connection with a trade open 20 secs before the off!!!



I can now look forwards to spending the first half of next week getting back the £80+ those two crashes (and a couple of other mistakes) have cost me in the last two days.

Virgin Media are not my favourite ISP at the moment even without that, the network is about as reliable as a chocolate teapot these days.

I can usually get it going faster again by changing my mac address and resetting the cable modem, but that doesn't help if the connection shuts down completely.

I'm glad I'm going back to Switzerland in a few weeks!

I did think I was still in profit for the month but it turns out my maths is worse than my internet connection and I've gone back into the red.

Not really what I was hoping for when I got up this morning...

At least there is some Tennis to look forwards to next week

Betfair Bot Mk I

Finished writing my first Betfair Bot today

Have now automated some of my Tennis trades (only there are no tennis markets at the moment but it's ready for next week) but was able to test on other markets.



Just hacked together at the moment but I've figured out the API.

Next step is to write it properly with classes and interfaces and stuff, might even put error handling in.  Then I'll be looking at linking it up to a database for real time data collection. Not sure if the free API will be able to do enough requests, but it will be ok to start with.

Trading went well today apart from losing £25 when the internet crashed 30 secs before the off, I would have been £10 up today without that loss, but is just one of them things I have no control over and not a big deal.

Working until Monday unless the weather is bad, so not sure how much I'll get done over the weekend.

Here's a video:



I've also added a link to the Betfair Developer site



There is a forum with VB and C# samples, plus on the main page links to many developer tools and information such as an API reference guide, API product comparisons etc.

I'm using:

VB Express 2010 (it's free)
MS SQL Server Express (it's free)
Betfair Personal API (it's free)

You've probably spotted a recurring theme...

If I was going to create applications for anyone else I'd probably take the time to learn C# Express (also free), but VB is quick and easy and does everything I need including hook up to SQL Server easily.

Power Cuts and Internet Crashes

Didn't get too much trading done today as the electricity shut down this morning for about 5 hours, then it came back for a bit then the internet crashed...

Luckily I'd no big liabilities either time.

I'd layed a dog at 1.04 this morning (because I saw £450 at 1.03) and it got matched (me and the £450) which was quite useful, the plan was to green up a few minutes before the off, but that didn't happen, luckily my 60p wasn't needed as it lost the race and I pulled in £15



Did a few races this evening but nothing major just an extra few quid to the P&L.

A fairly easy day, finished a book I've been reading and did a bit more on my bot program.