This is my 2nd year now, trying to turn Bet Angel and Betfair into a side income. With 2024 being about the same, at -£1500. Having come from a trading background, I thought this would be child's play, but I don't mind admitting I've not failed this hard at something for a long time...
I originally tried trading the football markets, with FTS income (because they had tons of data I didn't have), mostly the FH1.5 goals market, and I happened to start on a season that had a very low average number of goals, classic.
I then got into the horse racing markets attempting to lay the RP fave if it was drifting during the pre-market, which I picked up from Rich @ Racing profits, which he's subsiquently shut down his website....(shocker, I know)
I then tried some automation with some "systems" from Mark Horrocks, only after buying them, I saw he was mentioned on here (scammed again)...
But since about September i've been trading in-play, I've been about breakeven, with December being my first positive month in quite a while.
Big thanks to James, who has always been ready to help!
2025 a Year in review
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jamesedwards
- Posts: 5111
- Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:16 pm
Glad you're seeing some positive return for your efforts.
Probably a much too simplistic view, but I've always assumed financial trading to be easier than sports trading because financial markets have a long term general upward trend whereas sports markets do not.
Probably a much too simplistic view, but I've always assumed financial trading to be easier than sports trading because financial markets have a long term general upward trend whereas sports markets do not.
Richard came on my course way back and simply copied my content and published it as his own. So I forced him to close down his site as it was a just a copy of my content. But he kept on publishing it under different guises. Generally an untrustworthy individual, unfortunately there are many lurking around the industry.
You’re definitely not alone, that path you’ve described is a very common one.
A couple of points that might help going forward.
First, be careful about importing ideas wholesale from other people, especially anything marketed as a “system”. Most of those approaches were never robust in the first place. If something genuinely worked long term, it wouldn’t be sold as a packaged shortcut. Treat every idea as a starting point only and validate it yourself with data and proper records.
Second, football and racing are very different beasts. Football markets are heavily modelled and often efficient pre-match, so unless you’ve got a genuine informational or timing edge they can be frustrating. Racing, especially in-play, tends to reward reading market behaviour, pace and liquidity more than pure stats, which probably explains why things have stabilised for you since September.
Third, breakeven is not failure. It’s often the hardest stage to get through. If you can trade without leaking money, you’ve already solved most of the problem. From there it’s usually about tightening selection, reducing over-trading, and being ruthless about what you don’t trade.
My advice would be:
focus on one market type only for a while
keep stakes modest until you’ve got a clear edge
log everything and review losing days more than winning ones
ignore gurus and noise and build something that suits how you actually think and react
A first positive month after a long flat period is a good sign. Just make sure you don’t change too much too quickly now it’s starting to click.
A couple of points that might help going forward.
First, be careful about importing ideas wholesale from other people, especially anything marketed as a “system”. Most of those approaches were never robust in the first place. If something genuinely worked long term, it wouldn’t be sold as a packaged shortcut. Treat every idea as a starting point only and validate it yourself with data and proper records.
Second, football and racing are very different beasts. Football markets are heavily modelled and often efficient pre-match, so unless you’ve got a genuine informational or timing edge they can be frustrating. Racing, especially in-play, tends to reward reading market behaviour, pace and liquidity more than pure stats, which probably explains why things have stabilised for you since September.
Third, breakeven is not failure. It’s often the hardest stage to get through. If you can trade without leaking money, you’ve already solved most of the problem. From there it’s usually about tightening selection, reducing over-trading, and being ruthless about what you don’t trade.
My advice would be:
focus on one market type only for a while
keep stakes modest until you’ve got a clear edge
log everything and review losing days more than winning ones
ignore gurus and noise and build something that suits how you actually think and react
A first positive month after a long flat period is a good sign. Just make sure you don’t change too much too quickly now it’s starting to click.
Euler wrote: ↑Mon Dec 29, 2025 12:28 pmYou’re definitely not alone, that path you’ve described is a very common one.
A couple of points that might help going forward.
First, be careful about importing ideas wholesale from other people, especially anything marketed as a “system”. Most of those approaches were never robust in the first place. If something genuinely worked long term, it wouldn’t be sold as a packaged shortcut. Treat every idea as a starting point only and validate it yourself with data and proper records.
Second, football and racing are very different beasts. Football markets are heavily modelled and often efficient pre-match, so unless you’ve got a genuine informational or timing edge they can be frustrating. Racing, especially in-play, tends to reward reading market behaviour, pace and liquidity more than pure stats, which probably explains why things have stabilised for you since September.
Third, breakeven is not failure. It’s often the hardest stage to get through. If you can trade without leaking money, you’ve already solved most of the problem. From there it’s usually about tightening selection, reducing over-trading, and being ruthless about what you don’t trade.
My advice would be:
focus on one market type only for a while
keep stakes modest until you’ve got a clear edge
log everything and review losing days more than winning ones
ignore gurus and noise and build something that suits how you actually think and react
A first positive month after a long flat period is a good sign. Just make sure you don’t change too much too quickly now it’s starting to click.
^^ This is the post to listen too... I was Horse Racing in-running trading flat for ~6 months before the habitual patterns became more efficient. Through watching more videos & trialling different in-play techniques, my experience in race reading increased and slowly but surely I began to turn out a profit. I'll never forget my first £50 day from an afternoons trading, that then became a £200 week, then a £500 month etc etc...