21 yr old looking for all round advice

News, chat and debate about the Betfair betting exchange.
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Goobs
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2025 4:01 pm

Doesn't matter how you cut it this industry has a very dirty underbelly that no one is willing to talk about...
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jamesedwards
Posts: 5211
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:16 pm

Goobs wrote:
Fri Jan 16, 2026 8:06 pm
Doesn't matter how you cut it this industry has a very dirty underbelly that no one is willing to talk about...
How odd, then, that you seem so determined to enter it. :lol:
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Naffman
Posts: 5982
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 5:46 am

Think everyone (99% Goobs) scared the OP off :lol:
Last edited by Naffman on Fri Jan 16, 2026 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Safeway
Posts: 168
Joined: Sat Mar 18, 2023 7:00 pm

Goobs wrote:
Fri Jan 16, 2026 8:06 pm
Doesn't matter how you cut it this industry has a very dirty underbelly that no one is willing to talk about...
I sympathise with the difficulties which you have experienced. I cannot do pre-race trading (like nearly everybody) and the ladder doesn't fit my way of looking at things. I have received no benefit whatsoever from viewing videos from BA or any other source.

There is too much talk on this forum likening financial trading with sports trading (betting.) There is no similarity between the two except that they are both ways for most people to lose money. James makes a good point asking why you want do do this. If your experience is financials why not stick to that and stop coming on here with your pompous, grumpy posts?
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wearthefoxhat
Posts: 3656
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:55 am

If the OP has been "scared off" they'll have to grow a thicker skin to navigate the murky corporate world. The interest in learning something new that others are/have been successful at, is also a good way to go, although responses have been varied.

On that point, GPT wants to add it's tuppence worth:

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Welcome aboard — you’ve picked a fascinating rabbit hole… just don’t expect it to be lined with gold coins on day one 😄

A few honest pointers from someone who’s been around the exchange block a while:

1. Skip the expensive courses (for now)

Most paid courses recycle what’s already free on YouTube and forums, with a shiny PDF and a big promise attached. Bet Angel’s own videos, forum posts, and recorded webinars are genuinely top-tier. If you can’t make money with the free stuff, a course won’t magically fix it.

2. Start with ONE market, ONE approach

Horse racing is perfect, but don’t try to trade everything. Pick:

One race type (UK win markets, ideally 8–14 runners)
One time window (e.g. last 10 mins pre-off)
One simple idea (scalping, momentum, or order-flow following — not all three)
Depth beats variety every time.

3. Paper trade longer than feels comfortable

Everyone rushes this bit. Don’t.
Use £2 stakes for weeks, even months. Your job early on isn’t to make money — it’s to not do stupid things when the market moves against you. That skill pays the bills later.

4. “Following the money” is harder than it looks

Big money often hides, spoofs, or moves late. What you’re really learning is:

How prices behave when they’re about to move
When money stays vs when it pulls
That only comes from screen time. There’s no shortcut.

5. Keep a brutally honest log

Not just results — note:

Why you entered
Why you exited
What the market did after you got out
Patterns (good and bad) jump out surprisingly fast.

6. Treat this like a business experiment, not a last roll of the dice

Give yourself a fixed period (say 6–12 months), a fixed bank, and clear rules. If it works — brilliant. If not, you’ll still come out sharper, more disciplined, and very employable.

Plenty of people make Betfair work — but the common trait isn’t intelligence or secret strategies. It’s patience, repetition, and emotional control.

Stick around, ask questions, and don’t believe anyone who tells you it’s easy. If it were, we’d all be on a yacht arguing about the going at Ascot 🍻

Good luck — and enjoy the process.

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....and this is me....

Some of the above sentiments have already been mentioned on the thread, good to see some of them endorsed.

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Goobs
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2025 4:01 pm

Safeway wrote:
Fri Jan 16, 2026 9:14 pm
Goobs wrote:
Fri Jan 16, 2026 8:06 pm
Doesn't matter how you cut it this industry has a very dirty underbelly that no one is willing to talk about...
I sympathise with the difficulties which you have experienced. I cannot do pre-race trading (like nearly everybody) and the ladder doesn't fit my way of looking at things. I have received no benefit whatsoever from viewing videos from BA or any other source.

There is too much talk on this forum likening financial trading with sports trading (betting.) There is no similarity between the two except that they are both ways for most people to lose money. James makes a good point asking why you want do do this. If your experience is financials why not stick to that and stop coming on here with your pompous, grumpy posts?
Who pulled your chain?

Not that it's really any business of yours, but I wanted to generate some extra tax free income, as all my other activities attract too much taxation.

And seeing as everyone in this industry is busy promoting how easy it is to make money that's how I ended up here...now get back in your hole.
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