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I've seen a number of scams revolving around forex/sports arbitrage, and it would warm my heart if you could appropriate their marketing techniques for a genuin
by fabulist 13y ago
I've seen a number of scams revolving around forex/sports arbitrage, and it would warm my heart if you could appropriate their marketing techniques for a genuine product. There was one in particular which I read all the copy for in sickly fascination. I couldn't find it again, but if I do I will post it to this thread.
They often have a ticker of out-of-date arbitrage opportunities, to demonstrate their capabilities. Your trial is superior to this in one way, and inferior in another (which is key.) You offer real moneymaking opportunities, proving the value. But potential clients, as you're well aware, do not yet trust you. And running your code requires trust. I think you should take a leaf from the con men's book, and show out-of-date opportunities on your site.
The scammers give an explanation of what arbitrage is, and what "separates" their system from a get-rich-quick scheme. They invoke images of fast cars and big houses. They are, of course, exaggerating to prey on the naive and desperate, but the principle holds for a real product. The wikipedia page you link to is sterile. If it were me, I'd write an explanation which dealt directly with gigahashes, and which sought to excite your customers and inspire them to imagine their pile of BTC growing every six seconds.
These next thoughts are more my own. If your software is any good, people are going to reverse engineer it; why not post the mathematics behind your system on your site? If people can see the basis behind your program, they've a reason to trust it. Even if they don't understand the principles, they'll be reassured to see that there are indeed principles. I'd put up all the personal details you're comfortable sharing. If people can read a bio blurb and see your face, and feel you've made yourself vulnerable, they're much more apt to make themselves vulnerable to you. (Of course, if you put up too much information the vulnerability ceases to be metaphorical.)
Additionally, while I understand you can't compromise your competitive advantage, I'm curious to learn more about your system. Is six seconds an arbitrary number, or did you arrive there empirically? Are you running the tool yourself? How much have you made? What would be the impact if many people started running your tool, and (if their clocks sync up) take advantage of the same opportunities? Would that degrade its utility?
- antonwinter 13y ago@fabulist, thank your for taking a look and giving real feedback. it is very much appreciated. in no particular order, the questions you have raised. Why 6 seconds. cex has a 600 requests per 10 minute limit on their API otherwise they ban the caller. i make sure that I am under that I already know that others are using triangular arbitrage, in the stock market and I suspect they are also doing it on cex, otherwise I would be getting large numbers of profit opportunities rather than say 20-60 a day i am currently getting. So others doing something similar cant be controlled. out of date opportunities i am thinking of doing. i can simply report every arbitrage i find to let people see what is happening. Although currently the trial which doesnt need people to even sign up or use cex shows it live as it happens. I think you are also right into going into the math/detail. originally i have been thinking about keeping it fairly "high" level because most won't want to learn the math, but it may give them a greater sense of it being a real opportunity thanks again fabulist
- fabulist 13y agoNo trouble, I'm experiencing similar problems with trust trying to get my pentesting company started. The skepticism is frustrating, if understandable. :) From what you've said, I'm inferring that when one utilizes an triangular arbitrage opportunity it is expended. If thats so, I would advise extreme caution. This could make scaling painful, as your customers would be using the same algorithm and finding the same opportunities, but only one of them would get the payout. The result would be that the value of your product decreases with the number of customers. Perhaps you could adjust your code so that it queries CEX no more than 600x/10min, and ever 6s on average, but the timing has a random element. This would prevent your clients from syncing with each other. YMMV.