You guys really overestimate the impact of bots on bitcoin, it's minimal, and most of the impact is positive, not negative.
I read through that entire thread on reddit yesterday. It's a
Genetic Algorithm. Basically you create a pool of "genes", which are in this case, trading methods, and you let them exist in different populations under different conditions, with given starting parameters. From there you see which are the strongest (biggest winners) and you let them merge with other genes to hopefully create a powerful winning strategy.
The guy really doesn't give a fuck about profit, and I actually believe him when he says it, he's just a dude with an interest in cutting edge algorithms. His sample size was 5 trades as of yesterday, and his winrate was 80%. This isn't definitive at all.
Also, I'm not sure I subscribe to the whole genetic algorithm being something that can be applied to markets, as it seems to me you'd have a massive hurdle in that the algorithm would want to choose the best winners on a curve-fitting basis. Perhaps he's taken measures to avoid this, but the main point is that what worked yesterday, has to work today, in order for an algorithm based on past experience to work. Clearly the fact that there are winning traders who trade purely Technical Analysis suggests that this exists, but they definitely don't curve fit.
EDIT: Oh yeah, it threw me way off that he called it "High Frequency Trading" because it's not even close. In fact, this was the first time I noticed. You cannot run HFTs unless you have Fill-Or-Kill (FOK) orders. The only exchange that has that is CampBX, and market depth is shit right now on that exchange. An HFT probes for information on incredibly short term supply and demand, and gobbles up the spread, basically assuring that all market orders fill at horrible prices. You need leverage, micro-second trading ability, and FOK orders to accomplish this. Bitcoin provides none, and as I said earlier, he posted that he had 5 trades.
