
Ask HN: Is short term crypto currency trading profitable? - cryptobaba
Over the past few years, I was one of the many people who wrote off crypto currency. But apparently it grew by value and volume exponentially.<p>Was wondering if it&#x27;s too late in the game to invest or do short term trading using coinbase API? I am planning to write a customized trading app myself which buys or sells based on my risk appetite that day. Is it worth the effort? Do any of you guys do it?
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eb0la
It is (yet) profitable.

First, choose an exchange that is _stable_ , does not go down when there is a
quick market movement. When that happens _only_ stop-loss orders get executed
_automatically_.

Second, now the exchange fee structure. Some markets have different fees for
"makers" and "takers (ppl that makes an order without counterparty and the
ones that match existing buy/sell orders). I've seen 0% fees for market
_makers_.

Third, Test your strategy. Dont' just measure how much you win. Check your
drawback (how much you loose at peak). If it's not acceptable to you, DO NO
TRADE that strategy. If you don't have an strategy, you're gambling, not
trading.

Fourth, most crypto markets have _very_ low volume. Don't trade there because
you will move the market with pennies.

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RepressedEmu
I have been working on an app to do trend forecasting for various
cryptocurrencies. The end goal is to get realtime alerts when a currency dips
or spikes above a given forecast. You'd get a message with the current
forecast and a picture of the price graph with various statistical markers
overlaid. Kind of like a real-time trend analysis snapshot.

Is this something you'd be interested in?

~~~
muzani
I've done stock trading before, with many of the tools. I'm skeptical of how
good a tool for crypto can be. A lot of the reasons for spikes and crashes are
emotional, and not really a consistent pattern.

Something like Bitcoin is going so strong because it had gone 'mainstream' and
is vulnerable. There are several bubbles going on at the same time, one pops
and crashes while the others keep growing. But ETH is still a niche and
doesn't really have all the pops and crashes, so one can't just apply the same
pattern across all cryptocurrencies.

But it's something interesting if it can be done.

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tai_hn
Yes, I have a friend who programmed the profitable arbitrage bot.

He doesn’t make the bot public, but you can check out this open-sourced
bot([https://github.com/butor/blackbird](https://github.com/butor/blackbird))
that arbitrates among the prices in these exchanges below. * Bitfinex * OKCoin
* Bitstamp * Gemini * Kraken

Please keep in mind that 1) I don't know how this bot exactly works because I
didn't read the code yet and 2) this bot might not be the best one out there.

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siquick
Yes, I made 40% ROI in 2 months using the Coinbase API (buy when threshold met
or price < x, sell when threshold met or price > y).

Just add in some kind of intervention system is the sell/buy is high because
the volatile nature of the currencies can see major drops/gains which can
cause all sorts of bother.

~~~
bckygldstn
How did that 40% compare to the overall change in price? Bitcoin has gone up
100% over the last 2 months.

~~~
meric
He may have risked less than holding bitcoin.

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SirLJ
Why not trade the stock market instead? APIs are available from the major
brokers... It is much more liquid, you have the government protection in case
the broker disappears with your money... With the same effort you can build
generational wealth if you have an edge...

~~~
madamelic
Competition.

Crypto markets, although slow, don't have companies worth billions of dollars
and thousands of employees trading.

There are actually windows that can stay open for minutes at a time, rather
than seconds or milliseconds.

~~~
SirLJ
To me they are every slow you cannot trade 6 or 7 digits account fast in the
crypto market to get in and out efficiently... not to mention security - who
is going to protect your money if the broker disappears... every year a big
exchange goes bust...

~~~
cipherpro
In general, risk is proportional to reward. Your given risks and many more
repel more professional traders and arbitragers, therefore allowing the above
stock market margin of profits.

~~~
SirLJ
There is a risk and there is a gamble...

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coryl
There's enough volatility to make it extremely profitable.

Coins are going up and down 10-30% for no "real" reasons.

[https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/#/usd](https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/#/usd)

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itamarst
"Over the past few years, I was one of the many people who wrote off house
flipping. But apparently it grew by value and volume exponentially.

Was wondering if it's too late in the game to flip houses?"

"Over the past few years, I was one of the many people who wrote off dot-coms.
But apparently it grew by value and volume exponentially.

Was wondering if it's too late in the game to trade dot-coms?"

"Over the past few years, I was one of the many people who wrote off trading
in tulip futures. But apparently it grew by value and volume exponentially.

Was wondering if it's too late in the game to trade tulip futures?"

Etc.

------
danielvf
I know someone who has made money with a simple ETH trading bot. Apparently it
can be done.

~~~
quickthrower2
It could be luck though?

Imagine a 1000 sided dice. Lose $2000 if you roll a 1. Otherwise make $1.

Roll it 10 times. Looks like your making money!

~~~
Fjolsvith
You make it sound so simple! I want one of those dice bots.

~~~
anonyx69
Here you go: [https://satoshidice.com/](https://satoshidice.com/)

