Re: What is going on? Trading volume is so low!

Since the DDOS yesterday, MtGox turned off API support for anything calling the older https://mtgox.com/api pages and is now only allowing orders to be placed through their data.mtgox.com url calls.

I haven't looked on the forum much but didnt see this announced anywhere. Over the next few days I imagine others who run bots will pick up on this, fix their code and re-start their bots.

*edit* To clarify, I believe the API functions to query order response / account data were changed.

Plz forgive my ignorance. Are the bots hostile toward Mtgox?

No, when I talk about bots, I mean the scripts that are written to trade on mtgox through their API. These scripts usually trade high volume (much more volume than users using the website interface).

Why do they use these bots? Do they analyzing data, and buying and selling XBT automatically?

I run a market making bot. It maintains orders on both sides of the book at 1.3% intervals. When my buy orders are filled, it places a sell 1.3% higher. When my sell orders are filled, it places a buy 1.3% lower. I lose out when it trends continuously, but it stabilizes price and I turn a profit when the bulls and bears duke it out. By keeping orders on the book, I help make it possible for companies like bitpay that need to accurately price and immediately convert bitcoins to USD and companies like bitinstant and coinbase that need to go the other way.

That is genuinely fascinating. Thanks for telling us how your operation works. Now here's a man who knows how percentages work. Do you mind if I ask a question plz? How efficient is the following trading method? Use the MACD to mark buy and sells, and when there is uncertainly or very weak trends, go half in. Basically hedge both ways. Is this an ok method? any suggestions would be appreciated plz?
1.3% intervals is obviously a figure you've arrived at after a great deal of trial?

I'm not sure I'd trust a single signal to trade on. If you're looking for something simple, a balancing strategy is decent. Basically, you keep 50% of your value in bitcoin and 50% in USD and rebalance once a week or so to maintain the ratio. Obviously, you can use any ratio you want. Keep a little more in bitcoin when things look bullish, keep a little more in fiat when you're bearish.

Does this strategy work for you?

I have a collection of bot strategies that I simulate with Mt. Gox data. I manually tune the bots with "subsidies" or "taxes" depending on success, so I can discern which bot is the best. The "communist" strategy effectively does what you state (tries to maintain a 1:1 ratio of value), and it is among the bots which require the most "subsidies" to continue operating.

Fees will eat at you if you rebalance too often. Once a week is the most often I'd recommend, once a month might even be more reasonable. Not really a run all the time bot. If you want to bot it, just have it run once a month.