Oh and you also didn't mention that for most, bots are a LOSS of money, after curation.

Some of them have 5-7% ROI after curation. I don't remember exactly which ones, but I remember I did the math back then.

With that being said, there is a consistent chance that you will lose money, like you said, not only after curation, but because of collusion of many bids or, like you said, because of market conditions.