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Hi, I didn't know an AI agent would be so helpful with setting up bots in BFExplorer.

I've significantly modified my initial strategy of betting on a draw at halftime.

I've included several bots that essentially do the same thing: decide WHEN to exit the draw trade, but each one covers a different scenario of the match:

Scenario 1: Partial hedge when there's a goal (ideal scenario)

I secure a profit but let some run. It activates when:
There's a goal (1-0 or 0-1)
I’m in profit (≥ 0,6)
Minute 55–68

What it does:

It creates a partial hedge (1,4 stake)
It locks in part of the profit
It leaves position with exposure to continue profiting if something else happens (e.g., a draw → 1-1)

To do this, I have a Place Bet bot with the following parameters:

Stake: 1,4
ExecuteOnSelection: 3
BotName: Back draw (partial hedge)

Then I use a FootballBot to call the previous one, with the following parameters:

EntryCriteria: SelectionProfitBalance >= 0.6 (profit) And HaveMatchedBets = True And HaveUnmatchedBets = False (these are used to prevent the bot from restart once it finishes executing)

BotName: Back draw (partial hedge)
StartCriteria: [Score] In ('1 - 0', '0 - 1') And [MatchTime] >= 55 And [MatchTime] <= 68
We name this bot: Partial hedge when 0 – 0 breaks

Scenario 2: Emergency Partial Hedge (Late Bad Scenario)

Sometimes, the odds for a draw don't rise after a goal, but rather fall. In this case, a partial defensive hedge is applied when the position is losing, preventing further losses in later stages of the match.

It activates when:
There’s a goal
I’m at a slight loss (≤ -0.3)
Minute > 68

What it does:
Reduces exposure when there’s little time left
Prevents me from getting trapped in a bad trade

In this case, the same partial hedge bot as before is called from a new FootballBot named Emergency partial hedge, with parameters:

SelectionProfitBalance <= -0,3 (loss) And EntryCriteria: HaveMatchedBets = True And HaveUnmatchedBets = False (again to prevent the bot from restart once it finishes executing)

BotName: Back draw (partial hedge)
StartCriteria: [Score] In ('1 - 0', '0 - 1') And [MatchTime] > 68

Scenario 3: Final Exit (Mandatory Exit)

Triggers a full hedge after decisive scorelines (1–1, 2–0, 0–2), or when the match reaches late minutes ensuring no unnecessary exposure remains.

The trade is over, no matter what.

It activates when:
The result is no longer of interest (2-0, 0-2, 1-1)
Or minute ≥ 72

What it does:
Complete closure (full cash out)
Prevents me from staying In the trade too long
It's my “final safety net”.

To do this, I have a Close Selection Bet Position at Odds bot, with the following parameters:

Odds: 0
HedgingEnabled: yes
CheckingLastPriceTraded: yes
CheckingLastPriceTradedDifference: 2
ExecuteOnSelection: 3

BotName: Back draw (full hedge).

Then I set a new Football bot that triggers the last one, with parameters:

EntryCriteria: HaveMatchedBets = True And HaveUnmatchedBets = False And SelectionProfitBalance > -0.2

BotName: Back draw (full hedge)
StartCriteria: [Score] In ('2 - 0', '0 - 2', ‘1 - 1’) Or [MatchTime] >= 72
We name this bot: Final exit

Scenario 4: Stop Loss (market heading towards 0-0)

Executes a full hedge when market conditions indicate low probability of further goals (draw odds shortening), cutting losses early. The market believes it will be a tie, so I exit with a controlled loss.

It is triggered when:
Loss ≤ -0.7
Minute ≥ 55

What it does:
Closes the position before a tie becomes more likely
Avoids large losses typical of LTD trading

In this case, again the full hedge bot as before is called from a new FootballBot named Back draw to prevent loss, with parameters:

EntryCriteria: SelectionProfitBalance <= -0,7 And HaveMatchedBets = True And HaveUnmatchedBets = False

BotName: Back draw (full hedge)
StartCriteria: [MatchTime] >= 55

Scenario 5: Take Profit without a Goal (Market is moving in my favor)

Locks in profits by executing a full hedge while the score is still 0–0, when market conditions move favorably.

No goal, but the market is giving me a profit, so I take it.

It activates when:
Profit ≥ 0,8
Score remains 0-0
Minute 58–68

What it does:
Closes in profit without waiting for a goal
Very important in slow-paced matches

For this, I set a new Football Bot, with:

EntryCriteria: SelectionProfitBalance >= 0,8 And HaveMatchedBets = True And HaveUnmatchedBets = False

BotName: Back draw (full hedge)
StartCriteria: [Score] = ‘0 – 0’ And [MatchTime] >= 58 And [MatchTime] <= 68
We name this bot: Back draw to ensure profit

These 5 bots are all inside the so called Risk management concurrent bot, with settings:

EndsExecutionIfAnyBotEnds: Yes
ExecuteOnSelection: 3

This means:
All risk-control bots run simultaneously, ensuring that:
Only one executes.
The first one to meet the conditions determines my exit.

This is exactly what I want: an automated system that reacts to the match without my intervention.

Now I think It’s time to test the strategy into "practice mode", in order to check its behavior before taking it to the real world.

Can you think of any other possible scenarios that I haven't considered? I'm eager to hear your answers.

Regards

http://bfexplorer.net/Content/Bfexplorer/BfexplorerAI.png

I do not know if you are aware that Bfexplorer is the first app on the Betfair App Directory to support AI agents. Here is the AI's answer to your question, which you could have found yourself:

Nice work — your setup is logical and follows the common “Lay the Draw at half / hedge if a goal” pattern. Below I’ll walk through what you’ve done, point out where it’s correct, suggest improvements (hedges / risk controls), show options to auto-select matches, and explain how to keep bots running continuously.

1) Quick review of your current bot choices (correct / sensible)
- Place Bet bot ("Lay draw"): correct for placing a lay in-play (AllowPlacingBetInPlay = True, OfferMyBet = False, BetType = Lay). Good.
- Close Selection Bet Position at Odds ("Back and cash out"): sensible choice to hedge/close the lay position automatically when conditions met (HedgingEnabled = yes). Using CheckingLastPriceTraded is a common way to trigger on price movement.
- Football bot to start the hedge when score/time changes ("Back draw when 0–0 breaks"): correct trigger logic (Score or MatchTime).
- Sequence Execution to run the lay then waiting/trigger bots: correct approach to keep a single strategy that performs the sequence.
- Execute Bots (entry price filter) to only run when draw odds < 2.9: good pre-entry price filter.

So overall your choice of bot types and the sequencing is appropriate and follows typical practice.

2) Improvements and suggestions (risk control, robustness)
- Add an explicit liability / stake cap: make sure your Place Bet bot has a known maximum liability exposed if possible. If the Place Bet bot doesn't have a direct max-liability field, calculate the lay stake by formula so you never exceed desired liability.
- Add a late-time stop earlier or scale: 75' is reasonable, but consider:
- A staggered stop (e.g., stop new entries at 60' and close remaining exposure at 70') or
- Lower stakes for matches that remain 0–0 after 60' (because late goals become more likely).
- Add a price-based stop-loss/exit: if the draw price drifts up significantly (e.g., > X ticks above entry) you may want to close or partially close to limit loss. Implement with a "Close Market Bet Position" or "Trailing Stop Loss" strategy:
- Example: if draw LTP > 4.0 (or X ticks worse than your entry) then close position (partial/full).
- Or use a trailing stop so that if the odds retrace by Y ticks you lock-in partial loss control.
- Partial hedging / scaling out instead of single all-or-nothing:
- Hedge part of the stake when small favorable price change occurs (lock small profit) and keep remainder running to target larger hedge — reduces variance.
- Handling unmatched bets / latency:
- Consider adding a check to cancel/replace unmatched bets after N seconds or only place bets if last traded price within small window of offer price. This avoids getting matched at a very bad price.
- Use "CheckingLastPriceTradedDifference" carefully:
- A difference of 3 ticks is common, but check how your odds ticks map and do some backtesting in Practice Mode to avoid premature or late hedges.
- Reaction to in-game events (red cards, injuries):
- If you want more safety, add criteria to stop/close if Cards or exceptional events are available in your data feed — but note not all matches provide reliable card/event feeds to the bot.

3) Hedging formulas and practical hedge setup
- Full green-up hedge formula (to calculate back stake for zero profit):
backStake = (layStake * (layOdds - 1)) / (backOdds - 1)
- Use the Close Selection Bet Position bot or a “Green Up / Hedging” bot that calculates and places the required back stake automatically.
- If you prefer target profit: calculate back stake to leave a desired profit instead of zero.

4) Automation: selecting a series of matches in advance
Yes — you can automate market/selection choice using these approaches:
- Favourite events and saved filters:
- Use Bfexplorer’s favourite events or event groups (your “My Favourite Bet Events”) to group competitions you want to trade.
- Market scanners / filters:
- Create a scanner or market filter (competition, kickoff time window, pre-match draw odds < X, in-play availability) and bulk-add results to monitored markets.
- Execute a strategy over multiple selections:
- Use “Execute strategy on multiple selections” (ExecuteBfexplorerStrategySettingsOnSelections) or an equivalent app action to run your sequence on many markets/selections at once.
- Scheduling:
- You can pre-select markets (by market ID or by adding events to favorites) and have a single ExecuteBot run across that list at kick-off time.
If you want, I can help design the exact filter rules you need (competitions, kickoff window, pre-match draw range, bookmaker implied probability filters, etc.), and show how to turn them into a list that the Sequence Execution can run across.

5) Running bots when your computer is off
- Bfexplorer must be running and connected to Betfair for bots to execute. If your PC is off, bots cannot run.
- Two practical options to keep bots running 24/7:
1. Run Bfexplorer on a VPS (Windows VPS) or always-on remote PC — this is the recommended, common solution. Use a reputable VPS provider (low latency to Betfair endpoints), keep Betfair session authenticated, and ensure Bfexplorer auto-starts on login.
2. Leave a dedicated local machine on (e.g., an old PC or mini-PC) with unattended operation and remote access.
- Running minimized/in-background: Bfexplorer can run minimized; the app doesn't require the UI to be visible. But it still requires the machine and network to be on.
- Consider automation precautions on VPS:
- Secure the VPS (login credentials, 2FA),
- Keep Bfexplorer and Windows updates in mind,
- Monitor logs and have remote alerts for failures.
- There is no way for Bfexplorer to continue to run if the machine and service are completely powered down (no cloud execution without a VPS).

6) Testing, monitoring, and risk management
- Always test in Practice Mode first (you already are — good).
- Start with very small stakes when moving to real money.
- Keep a monitoring dashboard or alerts (email/SMS) to notify if something unexpected happens (bot error, disconnection, large loss).
- Keep a historical record (GetAllBetResults) and review performance periodically, tweak parameters and re-test.

7) Potential alternative/advanced bots to consider
- Trailing Stop Loss bot: to lock profit / limit loss dynamically if the odds move after you’ve placed a lay.
- Close Market Bet Position: more flexible ways to set profit or loss thresholds.
- Sequence Execution across selections: to run the same full sequence across multiple matches automatically.
- AI/ML or selection-filter bots: if you want to pre-filter markets based on historical features or machine learning ratings (advanced).

8) Next steps I can help with
- Review your exact strategy settings and suggest concrete parameter values (e.g., ticks for trailing stop, price thresholds).
- Build a market-filter for auto-selection (competition, kickoff window, pre-match draw odds, etc.).
- Create sample hedging calculations and show how to configure the Close Position bot for partial/targeted hedges.
- Recommend VPS specs and setup checklist to keep your bot running 24/7.

If you like, share:
- an example match/market ID you trade (or the competitions/time window you target),
- your exact lay stake/liability rules,
- whether you prefer full green-up or target-profit hedges,

and I’ll produce concrete parameter suggestions and an improved sequence (including sample stake/hedge calculations) you can test in Practice Mode.

You must have switched bfexplorer to practice mode; switch practice mode off and you will place real bets.

how is your model performing now?

Best one for me has been the one from Bet Angel it's UK based so you can trade anywhere in the world

sounds amazing has it kept up that strike rate?  

BotTriggers are not distributed with bfexplorer app instalation. You can either download them from my gist, or when testing some of strategies on Betfair AI Trading community.

HorseRacing/BookmakersOdds.md

Really impressive use case. I’ve been integrating the same Strategy Expert Prompt and found it drastically improves clarity when chaining multiple strategies. What blew me away was how quickly it aligned execution logic like ShareBetPosition and StrategyNames into a working config. Massive time-saver and helps bridge the gap between concept and automation. 🔄 Curious—has anyone tested this with dynamic triggers (e.g., price movement or volume thresholds) layered into the sequence?

just don't forget to check the VPS country, because I bought one in Germany but unfortunately, I cannot use it due to restrictions

what errors are you getting?

LastPriceTraded and you must run Cancel Strategies on Selection on all selections. 

The other alternative is write your own custom trigger bot script.

When compiling you certainly have got errors, so just read the errors and try to fix the problem.

The same project is included to my bfexplorer app solution, just to check possible compatibility issues if I had changed anything in the code base of the SDK. I have got no compiling errors for this project.

I did not yet released SDK for preview version which is build on .net 7/8.

Yes, use web page to login, in the Application / Settings, then when login you will use betfair web page login dialog with two factor authentication. 

Hey

I have installed the preview version after your email today. Looks great so far.

Thanks for the support.

TheWood

There are two versions of bfexplorer apps. The old version released on 28th March 2023. This app version is built on .net framework 4.8

The latest version I call the preview is relaesed o .net 7, and you can install it from the link above, from my dropbox drive.

This preview version contains the latest version of new bot stratregies like the one described in this post: Execute Strategy Rules Bot

Hi

Looking forward to the new release, im a new user and finding the application to be the best of its kind after trialling most versions of BetFair approved applications.

Keep up the good work.

Yes, I always monitor task manager cpu and memory usage. But what I want to ask is which V.P.S. (Virtual Private Server) service and ideal configuration do you recommend as the best to run bfexplorer. thank you

Open Task Manager and check how much CPU and Memory your bfexplorer app uses on your desktop pc. Bfexplorer uses really small amount of CPU but used memory depends on how much markets you open, or how many bot strategies you executes concurrently.

When using Strategy Bot Executor tool, markets are monitored only from set time and when bot strategy ends its execution the market monitoring is automatically stopped.

Quite strange:

I am looking for an experienced F# programmer to assist me with a project involving Betfair. Specifically, my project requires a script that can be run on Betfair’s bf explorer. The script needs to have the capability to place bets, based on a detailed strategy I have in place. My end goal is to efficiently place bets and manage them without too much hassle. I am expecting that the total timeline from start to finish should be less than two weeks for this project. The successful freelancer will have extensive knowledge and experience in F# programming as well as Betfair.Applicants with prior experience with using bfexplorer on Betfair are strongly encouraged to apply. Do you think you are a good fit for this project? I look forward to hearing from you soon!

https://www.freelancer.com/projects/php/script-run-explorer-betfair/details