As with all learning, the curve was steep and expensive. Over the two year period my wife and I calculated that I had spent around 6k on software systems, books articles and trading. After 2 years I had accumulated £260 and a marriage on the verge of divorce. I walked away.
I’ve returned to the trading game. Not out of necessity but as a hobby. I put in £20 - £40 quid into my betfair account and hope to make a profit. There’s more information on trading on the web than ever before and I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve had a moderate success, I made £560 from £40 banked £140 and then promptly lost the rest. I gave myself two more banks of £40 and £20 and lost them. The last bank I lost last night. (Fri 26 May 17).
So what’s the problem, firstly me, the banks blew up because I was ill disciplined. I lost £7 at the start of the evening because I didn’t close a trade. I then made that money and more back and then made a mistake and lost %50 of my bank. Then through frustration I back a favourite and waited in play to match, it turned green I hit the button it turned red and was never match, bye bye bank.
However, and this is where the rant comes into play. On this form and on Peter’s youtube video people are talking of ‘Being successful by having an edge’. That edge can be anything but most (from the comments on this forum) are a method of reading form. Now I can read form, I understand greyhound form, I’ve made several systems and I’m trying them out. I like horse racing, I can also read that form as well, but isn’t trading about not having to read or research form? Reading and evaluating form, even with the use of excel spreadsheets etc is time consuming. It’s also time spent without being paid. Trading is supposed to be back or lay ay one price lay or back at another and either take the lump sum or green up. Therefore, you should be able to read a market make a decision, enter the market and then ride the wave. Make a profit or cut your losses.
Unfortunately, as everyone on this forum knows, it’s not that easy. If it was everyone would be doing it. What I have learnt from my previous exposure to betfair and now, is that absolutely nothing has changed. We, as ‘amateur/hobbiest traders are being taken to the cleaners by the WOM or traders with bigger banks. We’re told trading is harder as the market is super efficient but you can go on youtube and watch Caan Berry and Peter enter a market and churn out a profit as simply as making a cup of tea.
Now your told that to be successful, not only do you must decide/ educated guess/ toss a coin which way you believe the market will go but you also have to find an edge. Preferably an edge that only a few ‘punters/traders’ have stumbled upon, and let’s face it, unless you’re a geek who loves binominals, polynomials, Beyer principles and statistics, we others will have to make do and continue to stumble into these ‘edges’.
Do I have an edge? Greyhound racing possibly, horse racing, at present no. The potential dogs the system picks, I’ll put on here, (maybe a week or so), they will be NAP, NB and a lay for one racecourse. I’d do more but I haven’t the time.
To conclude my rant. Trading is as elusive as the fricken Holy Grail to the Crusaders, will I give up? No, of course not, if anything the whole thing irritates that crap out of me and makes me more determined to succeed, don’t mistaken this for shear bloody mindedness, it’s more a matter of feeling like I’ve been made to look a fool and I’ll prove to both myself and others that I can trade & that I can take a small bank and make an income off it.
Rant over, Roger Out.
