Here's a step by step...
The Managed Profit miner is not auto-switching for me. It stays on the same algo that it starts with.
I followed your guide and setup a profit profile with 6 different algos, all using the same miner and with just zpool enabled, and 5 mins for the interval.
If I stop and restart the miner, it will sometimes pick a new algo, but it won't switch unless it is stopped.
Should it switch automatically? Also what data does the app look at to determine the most profitable algo?
Thanks for this great tool. "Awesome" is right.
Edit: After many hours the miner has not auto-switched. I still love this software. It saves me a lot of time and helps increase earnings. If auto profit-switching was working the software would be perfect.
There are several factors that will determine what a Profit Miner will mine.
- 1. Profit Switching interval
- 2. Algorithms selected in the Algorithms tab
- 3. Mining software set to mine those algorithms
- 4. Profit switching profile set to use those algorithms and mining software
- 5. Profit switching profile set with correct hashrates and power for the cards
- 6. Profit Miner set to the correct profit switching profile
- 7. Finally... what the Online service would say is the current most profitable at that check time/interval
All these factors have to line up for AM to switch, and many times is just the luck of the draw when it comes to the interval and what the pool says is most profitable. I've watched AM and MPH for a while to see what happens, and many times, you just miss the most profitable coin because it changes so quickly before the next interval.
Now... on the Profit Switching interval: This is how often AM will check the most profitable coin. If you look at the Online Services tab, and then uncheck the pools you are not using in the Display Services dropdown... then you will see just the coins being presented as minable. You also need to change the profit switching profile dropdown to show the profile you will be using. Now, here's where it gets interesting. If you set the interval too low (like your 5 minutes), you could potentially have lots of switching. But, it's only if the pool switches. If you leave it at 30 or 60 minutes, then you will most likely get less switching. This interval is important to think about. If you use something low like 5 minutes, then you could potentially be wasting time during the switch. It could take 30 seconds to a minute to switch to a different miner and ramp up to your normal hashrate. Then just 4 minutes later you could be switching again... loosing another 30 seconds to a minute. You could be wasting 20% of your hashrate during these switches because you are changing too often.
A second issue with a fast profit switching interval is the instability of the top coin. If you've ever watched a pool's profit switching algo, or Whattomine then you will see that these coin switches also happen a
lot. A coin will hit the top spot, then thousands of profit switching algos will kick in and drive the difficulty up, knocking that coin down the list again. The problem is, you will be stuck mining that coin until the next interval or check that AM does. An even greater problem is that your profit pool still has to go out and exchange that coin to BTC, and it will do that at the spot price at the time of conversion. It will not happen when that coin was profitable for a few minutes or even an hour or two.
Let's say a coin shoots up the list and is now worth $1 per coin. Your profit switcher changes to it, and you mine a whole coin (possible if you have a lot of hashrate to throw at it)... then after a couple of minutes, the coin drops down the list because of difficulty from all the other miners switching to it... say to $0.50 a coin. When the pool sends it to the exchanges, you will get at best $0.50 minus all the fees the pool charges for the upkeep of the pool, the exchange fee, and then maybe even a transaction fee. You will get a lot less than that $0.50. So really... was it profitable to switch to this coin?
Now imagine you are doing this every 5 minutes... you won't make much profit. You can combat this by increasing the profit switching interval to a much higher number. 30 minutes is probably the minimum you should look at.
In my opinion, it's actually better to look at the trends of the coin, rather that what is most popular at that instant. I would prefer to see AM use a weighted measurement average to determine the most profitable coin. For instance, if you set the interval to 30 minutes, it should check to see what "place" it's in. If the coin is in the top spot, it should get a "1". If it's in second place a "2". Then average that number with all the other interval checks over say the past week... and the lowest average number is what you should be mining. That will reduce switching to coins that will not perform well, and will bring more profit. It takes into effect the time it takes for the pool to accumulate coins, send them to the exchange, and then pay you the spot price in BTC. I think a weighted average will give you a lot more consistent profit. I'd love to see this feature Patrike!
