Hi.my 10c:
I have noticed that there a more than a few considerations when trading on Time machine vs Real Mode.Mostly re timings in terms of delays between you and the BF exchange, refresh rates before and during in play, amounts offered as already pointed out, unmatched bets(huge consideration as you have to try and back/lay unmatched bets for roughly the same profit target as the original bet and that can really stuff you), suspended markets (this seems to happen every now and again without reason-some of the other contributors can probably comment more on that than me),the BF queue,racing seasons as well as Green up/Dist loss formulas-all the gotchas I can think of so far. I had a bot running in Time Machine that was an in play bot that seemed to print money but in real mode in the UK, despite using a cloud based machine (less than a millisecond ping time to the BF exchange), I took a bath.It took me quite a while and much refining to get a functioning bot that remotely resembled the original TM based version. It still is not that profitable but at least I don't get caned-which is not bad for a beginner (12 + months with MF Pro but a slow learner
So, in short,your strategy of running in test/real vs TM is a good one and has worked for me somewhat. There are many more contributors on here that will be better able to advise you than me but this has been my experience.
I will add for interest' sake that I have run punting systems in TM across 4 months or more of markets that seem to be big winners, only to watch them lose after 2 weeks (horribly) in real mode.It is a challenge..big time.I haven't given up yet but the ol hair is thinning
Hope that helps.All the best!