https://twitter.com/mkuegi/status/1347634489925763079?s=20
about a year ago i put my bot into production. since then i switched from overworked techlead to "relaxed" bot trader. made between 70 and 100% in one year (depends on how you count), and with the increase in BTC value it actually made me around 400%. a small recap 🧵
i started on bitmex in dec 2019 (only futures exchange i knew back then). then expanded to bybit and in summer also to binance and phemex. Interesstingly enough, bitmex went up and down but never really took off. and since i never liked the spikes, i cut it.
binance and phemex looked good, but for some reason the bot didn't perform as the backtest promised and actually burned the accounts i put there, so i decided to focus on the things that worked and don't waste time with distractions.
aka: focus on bybit and work on "real" diversification: i added ETHUSD and XRPUSD as trading pairs and so far everything is taking off. I don't know why the other exchanges failed, and honestly i don't care. i have one that works, thats enough.
from a good start with +15% per month into a 2 month DD down 25% into a 70% pump up (days before i was going to cut it). back to another DD and historic finish. and thats only BTC. ETH and XRP also had their ups and downs but in the end, all of them finished with equity ATH.
regarding settings: i spend nearly the full year, constantly testing and improving the strategies. adding parameters and optimizing values. fun fact: in the end, the version from a year ago would have made similar results. if only i knew...
of course there were also technical problems and lessons to learn! in the beginning i had all the activity send to my telegram. cause i didn't want to miss anything. ended up with my phone vibrating every 4 hours and inbetween, and my wife getting annoyed...
so i learned to also cut the noise here. improved the logging (with a dashboard for easy overview of the values that matter) and cut the telegram-notification to only executions and errors. unfortunatly there've been quite some errors in the beginning
once i even got up in the middle of the night (cause my phone was vibrating for 40 minutes already) and had to fix some troubles. But with every problem, we learn. The bot got better errorhandling and now i think its running smoothly. :fingerscrossed:
so over all: i made 120% on bybit, lost 30% on other exchanges, and that all could have happened with me just lying in the sun, enjoying the time. Ok yes, i enjoyed a lot of time, but i also spend a lot on the bot.
i had some strategies starting with to much risk (cause backtests looked so nice... you know the drill) just to cut it drastically when they went into drawdown. big wins are nice, but its more important to stand the DDs.
if you think bot trading means that you won't look at the charts anymore or spend less time infront of the computer: think again. You can, but having a bot doesn't automatically mean that. Its your choice and its a hard one.
Bot trading brings all the problems like real trading, just on different levels. "don't interfere" "have a risksetting that fits your comfortzone" "have settings so you can really trust the bot" "don't interfere" "don't think you are smarter".
and i made a lot of friends on the way! started a discord for bot trading and there are already some ppl running my bot with their own settings. super interessting to see what others make of it (and thanks everyone for using the reflink ;)
in short: never underestimate what 1 year can change. i went from overworked techlead to relaxed bot-trader and this was just the beginning! believe in yourself and put in the work. It's not always easy, but always worth it!
as always: since i wished to have someone to ask about that stuff when i started: my DMs are always open. feel free to reach out. AMA except for my settings ;)