A more efficient 'Panic Button'

[Omnishambles]

Hi All,

Wonder if you can point me in the right direction...

Currently when trading in-play I have what I call my 'panic button', which is just a keyboard shortcut that hedges at market, so that when everything goes tits up (generally it's losing my horse in the field becuase I'm watching the market too much, or I fail to spot my horse's jockey flapping his arms willdly, again because I'm watching the market and not the race, or I've held on fractionally too long) I press my panic button, and I'm out.

Obviously, the slippage is insane and the acutal hedged amount is dependent upon whether I hit the button on an upswing or a downswing in the volatility.

I'm sure there is way with Bet Angel that with one stroke of a key that I can offer up a sensible exit (X no. of ticks?) with fill or kill that just keeps moving up if I'm not matched? What is the best way go about that? I guess there is a thread or video somewhere?

Thanks in advance

[ShaunWhite]

I fear for your balance if you're trading IP like this.

But if you did want to pursue it, maybe you could consider a bot with a rule that sets a signal when the green is minus x and have another rule to green/fill/kill or whatever if that signal is set. The danger then is spikes that trigger your 'panic mode'. That risk could be reduced by only setting your panic signal when the horse has been over your loss limit for n seconds. You'd do that checking your panic rule every second(?) and incrementing the signal instead of just setting it, remembering of course to reset it to 0 if the horse recovers before your time limit has been reached.

So ..
set signal to 0 if green value < loss limit
increment signal by 1 if green value > loss limit
green all if signal > x

..something like that anyway.

[Omnishambles]

I fear for your balance if you're trading IP like this.

Me too in all honesty! I should explain that I take a front runner angle, so that in theory my trade is always green if my horse goes to the front. Lately I'm letting horses run to the final third of the race and beyond (under certain circumstances) and trying to hang for the bottom price or as near to the bottom as possible. Obviously the longer we're in the market the more risk we take, but most of the time its not a problem and I can exit manually but there are times when I've held on just too long and a graceful exit just isn't possible.

Perhaps I should just go back to taking the market discount for a front run and have an easy life, but the money I'm leaving on the table by doing this is substantial and is counter to one of the fundamental principles of trading - let your winners run.

I dont mind burning healthy greens and my stake to boot, if it comes to it, for a chance to win many multiples of my stake rather than just the 30-50% of my stake for a FR, but I'd like to do so gracefully. Maybe that's me vainly wanting to have my cake and eat it, I dont know, but it seems that with the massive functionality on Bet Angel there's probably a way to achieve this.

[to75ne]

are sure you are not blurring the lines between gambling and trading?

[Omnishambles]

are sure you are not blurring the lines between gambling and trading?

Almost certainly but I dont think that's necessarily a bad thing. Gambling is an emotive word - if I'm on a horse that has a tactical advantage, stays the trip, has won at the course before etc etc is it gambling to hold on until the business end of the race? Sure, I'll have a lower strike rate, I'll burn a lot of greens but when I get it right the payoff is huge and covers the losses. What I'm trying to do now is optimise the 'oh shit' exits. As I say, maybe it's impossible and I need to accept that exits will be volatile if I'm chasing four figure greens. And its not lost on me that getting it right invariably means a four figure green - which looks nice, strokes the ego, but might be slowly sending me back to work before I've even really started...

[jimibt]

are sure you are not blurring the lines between gambling and trading?

Almost certainly but I dont think that's necessarily a bad thing. Gambling is an emotive word - if I'm on a horse that has a tactical advantage, stays the trip, has won at the course before etc etc is it gambling to hold on until the business end of the race? Sure, I'll have a lower strike rate, I'll burn a lot of greens but when I get it right the payoff is huge and covers the losses. What I'm trying to do now is optimise the 'oh shit' exits. As I say, maybe it's impossible and I need to accept that exits will be volatile if I'm chasing four figure greens. And its not lost on me that getting it right invariably means a four figure green - which looks nice, strokes the ego, but might be slowly sending me back to work before I've even really started...

potentially, you can use your tactic in reverse and look at laying during that final ultra low odds section of the race when a few runners are in contention. theoretically, if they are below 1.5-1.4 odds, you'll have a decent opportunity to have a lower liability than your stake whilst at the same time, will have exercised your due dil on the contended runners. still as risky, but no more so than holding out for the contended higher odds back in this space.