A new beginning.

[SeaHorseRacing]

I though id share a little bit of my story and journey as I feel it could inspire or helps someone else.

I have been trading officially a year in September.

I have attached a screenshot of my trading today. Although the profit is not mind blowing I will explain.

I have been profiting from trading pretty much since Decemberish last year.

However, without realizing until the last few months. The bad habits I have are just shocking. I didn't know they existed or where a problem.
I was finding nice big profits regularly but now and then I would just eff up a trade and just lose my head.
I would say on average I would make £200 in a day but then go and have a £600 losing day every other week. Although losing days are inevitable I guess. £600 is far too much.
Its also painfull and leads to more poor decisions!

So a few months ago after reading a book, I had a light bulb moment.

Its not about the money at all anymore. Its about the quality.

I am now trading from a £500 bank. The reason for this is. All I am doing is monitoring my mistakes and training myself good habits.
So its been about 6 weeks now since these changes and my trading has drastically improved.

My overall strike rate trading before I made changes averaged between 66% to 80%.

So what was I not happy with and what am i doing now?

I had noticed- I was constantly opening a market and placing a trade within probably 10/20 seconds. Rash. I am just an impatient git sometimes. This is a bog no no. I would look at a market and go.. yep sideways. Scalp and I would start to scalp. Most the time thats ok but it results in the one trade that wipes a days work.

What do I do now? I WAIT! I will not open a trade until I have observed it at least a minute, but not just observe it. Really observe it, really dig deep. keep asking questions.

I would notice when I hit a loss, I would usually have 3 or 4 in a row. It took me so long to realise why. FOCUS. This is probably the biggest part. I dont just mean focus. I mean, have your eyes on the market at all times. constantly asking questions. Feel. Has the feel changed?

A few others:

This ones really hard and it was the reason for my £1.67 loss today. MISSING OUT. I made a beautiful little trade and boom large order came and I scratched it. It then continues. It gave me this feeling of missing out. So what do i do. I place a trade when their loading in the stalls. I need to work on this one as six weeks hasnt allowed me to get rid of it yet!!

Keep asking questions.
Am I using the correct tactics?
Has the market changed?

Greed! This results in a big loser sometimes. And OVER TRADING!!

The point of this post is. Although I felt like I was a good trader although lacked long term experience. In fact I wasnt. I knew how to trade but in reality I wasnt skilled at all.

My trading results have flown through the roof. Let me tell you. There is no better feeling than looking at a race and saying. You know what I am going to not trade this. My trading is far more relaxed and my improvements are off the scale.

If theres traders out there struggling. Look deeper into yourself.

One stupid habit of impatience and the feeling of missing out can make a bad trade into a losing day.

Now it takes as long as it takes. So although I dont want to put pressure on myself. I am not allowing myself a much bigger bank until I have consistently changed my behaviors.

I had 16 winning manual trades out of 17 today and I only lost because of emotions. I felt the need to trade. It can be done guys.

[SeaHorseRacing]

For anyone new. You are not going to be successful from this overnight.

I just wish I new this a year a go because learning to trade is easy just takes time. Its learning about you and removing the bad parts.

You can learn about the markets I reckon within a year, but seriously how long does it take to remove a personalty trait like inpatients?

Its so difficult!!!

[RentonT]

Very relatable post

I think greed is a mother~*%@er.

Also learning to be really patient is key.

And I totally agree about your points on focus and overtrading.

[3virgul14]

You are at the right track. Mastering a profession requires a burn-in period of 10000 hours - quoting from a trading book- . Whatever you do, doesnt matter, you will always find yourself learning and improving if you are ready for it.

So just keep investing in it and you will gain your edge , just keep in mind that its a zero - sum game . Your edge would not survive a long time if you dont go for perfection.

[Crazyskier]

I had 16 winning manual trades out of 17 today and I only lost because of emotions. I felt the need to trade. It can be done guys.

Good work for manual trading, though I managed just 2 losses from 47 events (almost every race) yesterday, my joint best day as a win/loss percentage overall. this is a combination of automation from 8 hours out, then manual intervention if required, within the last hour before the off. It's also a 'green at any price' endeavour, so even 2p profit is acceptable rather than risk a loss.

I suspect Jimbit and PeterLe's automation may beat this for consistency, but I'm still a relative newbie, averaging £8-£15 daily, from just a £200 bank.

I'd certainly agree that greed and chasing losses are a recipe for a visit to the poorhouse. Discipline is everything.

[SeaHorseRacing]

Today is a perfect example of testing my patience and controlling emotions.

I will hold out for the Irish group 1 and if not I am calling it a day. Frustration is likely to prevail here.

Horses broke through the stalls at Deauville yet twat the races thought its better to ignore Leicester and Chelmsford coverage. Th race finished and they continue to show replay.

[Abraquay]

I wish i could make £40 everyday on horseracing. Not bad for 2 hours work. Need to re-think my greyhound strategies though !
Think will concentrate on the horses for the time being.

[Bluesky]

Great post SHR, I think that post will inspire people, it inspires me anyway, thanks for sharing your journey with the forum.

[ShaunWhite]

Thanks for posting that SHR... haste is a flaw I have too, and it's often worse when you've had a good spell and you feel invincible. I'm definately going to try your '1-minute watching' idea, it sounds like the perfect thing to do....but I think I'll need to sit on my hands.

One thing i've often wondered about trying, is asking my missus to watch me trade and explaining what i'm doing, jeez that would make me focus !

The other stupid thing i've almost stopped myself doing when a trade has gone especially bad, is saying "oh let's just call this one a bet, i'll not count it in my trading stats".

Thanks again for your post SHR . That +6, -5, +7 was a familiar rollercoaster

[Geordie]

Thanks for sharing SeaHorseRacing. Very useful post for me having only traded 2/3 months.

[Ralphyboy]

Nice post SH. It's good read and keep things in perspective for those of us starting out hope you keep this updated mate it's appreciated.

P.s Geordie are you an actual Geordie mate ?

[Geordie]

Nice post SH. It's good read and keep things in perspective for those of us starting out hope you keep this updated mate it's appreciated.

P.s Geordie are you an actual Geordie mate ?

Sure am, Ralphyboy

[Ralphyboy]

Booooooo Hisssss makems here