Some days, it absolutely is not worth it. In April, I wanted to sell the farm and trade in all of my “tractors” for push mowers. Mowing the neighbor’s yard was going to be a more reliable source of income than the bot that developed amnesia if you hurt its feelings. I was ready to be done with it until I remembered this money is not for tomorrow, it is for 5 years from now. Once I allowed that perspective to permeate my thoughts, the list of negatives issues shrunk. What were they?

Wouldn’t it be easier to learn how to trade and make your “big” trades a couple of times per month? That way, you can relax and not worry what is going on in the market the rest of the time. At my age, I would get cranky if I had to alter my priorities to learn something I am not sure I would enjoy and be good at. Learning is good; my patience with unfamiliar concepts is not good.

Can’t you just set the bots up and leave them alone? Why do you need to stalk your bots constantly? I am a optimistic-pessimist. A “trust but verify” type of guy. I am aware of things that can go wrong. The “fix-it” part of me wants to take care of any problems as quickly as possible. I would be thinking about worst case scenarios whatever I was doing.

Maybe if you didn’t have this blog you wouldn’t be forced to think about what is wrong on the bot farm. This is a very valid point. What am I going to do for a topic today? What negative (or positive) thing can I point the magnifying glass at? If I just lived life and didn’t think of what might be insightful for others, I wouldn’t think of what was financially painful (rewarding) for me. If the post doesn’t seem sincere and written by a human, I don’t find it very interesting either.

Why try to give people a shortcut to start their own bot farm? Despite what my kids jokingly say, I do like helping people. I am convinced there is value in the bot farm concept. If I can give people a shortcut to success or enhance their chances of finding success more quickly, then I will sleep better knowing I tried.

If nothing else, any blog readers will know more about algorithmic trading than the average. Ideally, my description of the pros and cons will allow for a productive conversation if the topic ever comes up. Good Luck!