Traders who trade and travel - what are your stories and experiences?

[Wolf1877]

I often travel outside the EU (and maybe always if these MPs get their fingers out) where data can be expensive . Data in the UAE, Philippines, Seychelles can cost £5 per MB … yes MB! … with BT and yes I can get a local SIM card which I do but mobile data can still be expensive (Seychelles is £25 for 2GB)

If you are regularly travelling to places like UAE and Phillipines then I'd suggest that you ditch BT and get a Vodafone contract (not Vodafone basics though). They do 77 countries where you can use your UK data/text/call allowances at no extra cost plus another 104 "Roam Further" countries (including UAE and Phillipines but not the Seychelles) where you can use your UK data/text/call allowances for £6 a day.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/pu ... 079683.pdf
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/terms-and-co ... /index.htm

I know that in the UAE the emiratis basically control the local telecoms market to maximise their revenues (Skype is illegal for example) and Vodafone is the only UK carrier to my knowledge with any kind of a deal that doesnt cost £5 per MB so £6 a day is not too bad.

It's a bit steep paying Vodafone £6 a day for places like the US and Australia when you can get cheap 4g connectivity using UK PAYG sims like Three Mobile.

[firlandsfarm]

… I'd suggest that you ditch BT and get a Vodafone contract (not Vodafone basics though). They do 77 countries where you can use your UK data/text/call allowances at no extra cost plus another 104 "Roam Further" countries (including UAE and Phillipines but not the Seychelles) where you can use your UK data/text/call allowances for £6 a day. ...

Great info, thanks Wolf … I'll check that out immediately.

Done, looks good … and just when I was going to switch to Sky because of their data roll-over facility!

[arbitrage16]

Obviously there is the oft-touted image of the cave dwelling sports trader who lurches at his mouse out of a miasma of crisps and stale y-fronts, but we're not all like that, and indeed on the other end of the spectrum it seems to me that trading affords a great opportunity to work and travel abroad.

Interested to hear if anyone has set up base abroad, or is living the digital nomad life whilst trading the markets

[Euler]

I've traded from a large number of different locations and loved every minute of it. I think it's the ultimate "living the dream" moment. But I've never really pushed trading as a lifestyle choice as that just smells a little. But it's certainly possible and much easier now than when I started.

If you can trade competently and can find a decent location I don't know why you wouldn't do it. Some of my most memorable trading moments have been pulling in a massive total sat next to a pool or something. The feeling is great, but if you can't trade in the UK well then a change of location isn't going to alter that. There are a lot of traders who, while domiciled in the UK, often are somewhere else. I've met quite a lot of them over the years.

[firlandsfarm]

I don't trade, I just use automated systems that need 10 mins each morning to set up the day's markets. I came back from a long weekend in Holland on Monday and the 10 mins over the first cup of coffee each morning paid for the total trip for me and wife. As Euler says that can be most memorable. The only thing you need to be careful of is that you cannot access Betfair from everywhere in the world and I'm not referring to an Internet connection … it depends on which countries Betfair have licences to operate in. The way around that is to have a VPS in the UK but I suspect that could slow your connection speed when abroad by adding an extra leg to the journey to the Betfair servers which doesn't affect my activities but could affect some trading activities.

[Euler]

I moved some posts into this thread as they were on a non-related thread, hope it's useful and not distorted the thread. I can move back if we have lost context.

[ShaunWhite]

The way around that is to have a VPS in the UK but I suspect that could slow your connection speed when abroad by adding an extra leg to the journey to the Betfair servers which doesn't affect my activities but could affect some trading activities.

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. You've introduced an extra leg, but from the VPS to BF should be like lightening (my ping is iro 1.5ms and 950Mbps), and the data from the VPS to your device is just the display info and mouse clicks (ie no 'data' as such) so that's faster too.

[firlandsfarm]

the data from the VPS to your device is just the display info and mouse clicks (ie no 'data' as such) so that's faster too.

… also it's 24/7 when away from your computer.

[olexyy]

I don't trade, I just use automated systems that need 10 mins each morning to set up the day's markets. I came back from a long weekend in Holland on Monday and the 10 mins over the first cup of coffee each morning paid for the total trip for me and wife. As Euler says that can be most memorable. The only thing you need to be careful of is that you cannot access Betfair from everywhere in the world and I'm not referring to an Internet connection … it depends on which countries Betfair have licences to operate in. The way around that is to have a VPS in the UK but I suspect that could slow your connection speed when abroad by adding an extra leg to the journey to the Betfair servers which doesn't affect my activities but could affect some trading activities.

Hello firlandsfarm,
i' ve just joined the forum. How can I can send a private message to you?
Thanks

[firlandsfarm]

Hi olexyy, I've just PM'd you here … you can reply to that.

[Big Bad Barney]

I just read a book called Game Set Cash about a guy court siding the tennis for two years.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/ ... e-set-cash

It's probably interesting for people who like to travel. It's easy light reading. It's more of a story than any hard reading about trading...

Apparently, the tennis officials were really clamping down on courtside trading was why he gave it up. Not sure the truth of it tho...

[vankancisco]

A few years ago I spent a bit of time with a young trader who constantly travelled around the world. He would basically turn up somewhere, spend 4-5 weeks there and then jump on a plane to somewhere else. He was a big earner, averaging around half a million per month. I watched him in action and was surprised how he operated, it was much more intuitive based rather than say detailed analysis. He said using software just confused him and detailed statistical analysis would eat into his earnings. I guess he's one of those people who can see things that everyone else can't. With regards to the nomad lifestyle, probably not for everyone but will no doubt suit the adventurous type.

[ShaunWhite]

Software confused him? And analysis a waste of time? ... I'd guess that by now he's broke. You can only wing it for so long.

[Big Bad Barney]

A few years ago I spent a bit of time with a young trader who constantly travelled around the world. He would basically turn up somewhere, spend 4-5 weeks there and then jump on a plane to somewhere else. He was a big earner, averaging around half a million per month. I watched him in action and was surprised how he operated, it was much more intuitive based rather than say detailed analysis. He said using software just confused him and detailed statistical analysis would eat into his earnings. I guess he's one of those people who can see things that everyone else can't. With regards to the nomad lifestyle, probably not for everyone but will no doubt suit the adventurous type.

The guy in the Game, Set, Cash book, worked for a syndicate. He would just use a mobile phone to send the scores to the backend who would do the analytical decisions. They pretty much spent the whole year travelling...week here..week there... They had a team court siders that would all get thrown off the court over the space of a tennis tournament. He reckoned after doing it long enough he'd know all the habits of the tennis players etc... For instance, Nadal guy bouncing the ball the same amount of times every serve, etc... I would presume some sort of intuition would build up for knowing whats going to happen before anyone else does.... but you'd be restricted to a one trick pony of scalping I'd imagine....

I would guess that'd be a risky thing to bank your career on tho...

[vankancisco]

Software confused him? And analysis a waste of time? ... I'd guess that by now he's broke. You can only wing it for so long.

Last I heard he'd bought a property a couple of houses along from a well known rock n roll star so maybe the travelling is not as much now. Not sure if he's had to change his method of doing things, I doubt it. All analysis was kept in house, inside his head. I remember him saying that if he ever had to backtest what he was doing he was in the wrong job. He also believed spreadsheets were for losers.

From an observational perspective I was interested without being too intrusive. Rather than focusing on specifics I was curious about his mentality and thought process. One of the things I took away was not to always accept something as fact, even if it is deemed to be. This has ended up being extremely useful. However it did involve doing some software based analysis