Just out of idle interest, I'd be interested in knowing how many people are general traders (i.e. trade multiple sports and markets profitably) and how many specialise in areas that they are good at / enjoy.
I've tried general trading and have put a lot of time in to learn how the various markets work etc etc. However, I have found that I'm good at some sports but poor in others. The good sports for me are football, golf and automated horse racing. The bad sports are non-automated horse trading and tennis.
The approach I've taken is to cut out the bad but part of me still wants to figure out how to turn things around in my weaker areas.
Specialist trading or an all rounder?
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ShaunWhite
- Posts: 10630
- Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am
Personally it's just a couple of sports. If you're sat around with time on your hands then maybe look at the other stuff but otherwise maximise what you're good at. It's usually easier to add 1 or 2% to an existing strategy than it is to find 1 or 2% from a standing start.
The again doing the same thing everyday is boring as fck so you might find variety keeps you more engaged.
The again doing the same thing everyday is boring as fck so you might find variety keeps you more engaged.
You must ask yourself where this itch comes from. Could it be fear?
Scaling up in your profitable sports will require some uncomfortable adjustment. And it could be easier to escape to another sport and create more volume by having a portfolio of sports with smaller stakes.
If this is the case, then you need to gradually up your stakes and never stay too long at each level, just keep on breaking that resistance.
Probably better to be a specialist than a jack of all trades.
But it goes hand in hand as well, if you're a specialist and know your market very well then you probably have enough in your skillset and methodology to unlock other markets. But I've found that people rarely get out of their comfort zones no matter what, plus adding other markets may not be an efficient use of their time either.
I've had different phases at times and was always curious enough to have a dabble in various stuff, although these phases were mostly influenced by specialist insight from networking with others, out of curiosity again but granted it's a luxury in itself, so can't say I've spent loads of time working out these markets and opportunities from scratch. Obviously if you've been around BF long enough you've had the other luxury of having time to model every market from scratch.
I don't really look at it as "sports" though, these are just different market structures with different opportunities.
That being said, you can choose whatever market suits your skillset and lifestyle, but technically you can't choose your passion!
Personally I was always interested in pure trading approaches which meant being slightly obsessed with clean P&Ls without visible losses so have initially ignored the value betting side, but good trading doesn't mean efficient trading, so in hindsight this was a mistake for a number of reasons, and had to be corrected.
But it goes hand in hand as well, if you're a specialist and know your market very well then you probably have enough in your skillset and methodology to unlock other markets. But I've found that people rarely get out of their comfort zones no matter what, plus adding other markets may not be an efficient use of their time either.
I've had different phases at times and was always curious enough to have a dabble in various stuff, although these phases were mostly influenced by specialist insight from networking with others, out of curiosity again but granted it's a luxury in itself, so can't say I've spent loads of time working out these markets and opportunities from scratch. Obviously if you've been around BF long enough you've had the other luxury of having time to model every market from scratch.
I don't really look at it as "sports" though, these are just different market structures with different opportunities.
That being said, you can choose whatever market suits your skillset and lifestyle, but technically you can't choose your passion!
Personally I was always interested in pure trading approaches which meant being slightly obsessed with clean P&Ls without visible losses so have initially ignored the value betting side, but good trading doesn't mean efficient trading, so in hindsight this was a mistake for a number of reasons, and had to be corrected.