In-play losses for pre-race traders

[superfrank]

Despite having traded for nearly 2 years I still let several races go in-play every day, sometimes more than 5!

I keep a record of my in-play P&L and I've calculated that this year it has reduced my profits by at least 30%.

If I let a race go in-play I try to wait for at least a few seconds before getting out so that at least I have a chance of profiting from some of them, rather than panicking out and at best only ever getting out even.

I know that I really should just stop letting any races go in-play, but often the market only gets going very late and there are often a couple of minutes between the official and actual off time and I don't want to stop trading this period altogether.

I find it very difficult to multi-task, and I often 'zone out' when trading and forget all about the TV and the race!

What normally gets my attention is the commentary, i.e. when the presenter/commentator says "they're nearly all loaded" etc., but often they talk straight through the start of the race, or the handover to the commentator is too late (ATR are a pre-race trader's nightmare).

I'm going to move the TV on the wall a little closer so that I have more chance of seeing things out of the corner of my eye, but I'm not sure what else to try.

I'm sure this has been discussed many times on here before, but I wonder if anyone had any new ideas - I'd gladly pay for a service that activated a buzzer on my machine 5 seconds or so before the actual off!

[freddy]

Why not just have your exit bets set to be taken at S.P if you have problems missing the race start.

then all you have to do is equalise your green / red in-play. Much less risk that way

[superfrank]

Thanks freddy. I've had a look at that but it only works if you have 'exit' bets in the market doesn't it? I mostly don't!

What I really need is an 'auto-green at in-play using SP' option - I guess that would require a setting and change at Betfair's end.

[PeterLe]

Hi Frank,
If you do a search in the spreadsheet section there is a spreadsheet that you can attach that will green/red up just before in play.
If I remember correctly, there is a video on betangeltv on youtube too??
Regards
Peter

[superfrank]

Thanks Peter - but that is just before the official off time which is not what I'm looking for. As I said above, I don't want to always stop trading at the official off time because these days plenty of price action occurs after this time and before the actual off.

Do you think it is worth putting in a suggestion for a 'Auto-green at in-play using SP' option? It would require a change on the Betfair side, but maybe BA could request this.

I haven't thought it through too much, but I can't see why it couldn't be done technically.

What Betfair would need to know is that for each user/race whether they wish to auto-hedge their positions using SP - this could be done using an account level setting with an additional override at race level. It could actually be attractive to Betfair because if pre-race traders knew that they could trade through the off without fear of a big loss then there would surely be more money matched in the period between the official off and in-play.

[James1st]

Perhaps the closest to what you need is to use Excel to issue a Global Command that tests time now (C3) against race time (>E3) and sets all unmatched bets to TAKE_SP_ALL. Testing the number of unmatched bets (C5)then allows you to GREEN_ALL.

[freddy]

Thanks freddy. I've had a look at that but it only works if you have 'exit' bets in the market doesn't it? I mostly don't!

What I really need is an 'auto-green at in-play using SP' option - I guess that would require a setting and change at Betfair's end.

Yes it does but you can put your exit bet way off the current odds so you know it will not get matched, untill you are either ready to exit your position or it turns in-play.

another good reason to do this is it saves you from a big loss if Betfair crashes.

[superfrank]

I understand what you mean freddy, and that approach will work for some, but it's not that I'm waiting to get matched at the off (and therefore know what to get out with). My trading style needs something else!

What do you think of the 'Auto-green at in-play using SP' idea?

[freddy]

Well yes it's a very good idea, Alot of us have talked about that in the past but it's something only Betfair can do for us unfortunatly and they may not see it as something that is important to them.

Until then just taking S.P althoe not perfect is still 1000 times better than risking your whole stake going In-Play as you currently doing imo.

It would just leave you a small green or a red on one horse which you could level out within a second in-play.