I hope this may be useful to new traders.
I have taken the dreaded journey. I have lost (invested) lots of money learning to trade the horse racing markets. I have been close to giving up many times but I like a challenge and I like trading. Bet Angel is by far the best trading software available and Peter's enthusiasm is motivation enough to keep at it.
A few months ago it seemed to click into place and I started to make a profit.
To assist anyone just starting out I have started a blog http://dwsportstrading.wordpress.com/ Hopefully the first post will prevent some of the losses I experienced when starting out. I will post more experiences on a regular basis.
Newbies I hope this helps
Good to do. Writing can get your thoughts clear.
Two thoughts:
- be explicit on stakes. What does "small stakes" mean for you? Is it a tenner here and there? Or a ton?
- put it in % terms. eg, for a bank of GBP1000 you make profit of 20% per month. Or 100% per month etc.
Cheers
Two thoughts:
- be explicit on stakes. What does "small stakes" mean for you? Is it a tenner here and there? Or a ton?
- put it in % terms. eg, for a bank of GBP1000 you make profit of 20% per month. Or 100% per month etc.
Cheers
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tweebie1999
- Posts: 89
- Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:23 am
Thanks for your replies.
What changed it for me were the following:
1. deciding what I will do first when I arrive at a market. ie what grade of race is it, what are the prices of the horses. Try to derive from this the likely market behaviour. Will it be stable or erratic. Scalp or swing.
2. realising the market is like a see saw, one horse goes out in price another comes in. You can take advantage of this. The market always has to stay in balance. Mugsgame from this platform has described this a lot in his posts.
3. And most important for me was: finally realising that when it goes against me to get out asap. It took me forever to get this into my head. I would sit and watch the price go against me in the hope it would return. Don't do this , cut for a small loss and look at the situation again. Once it goes it seldom comes back, so what do you want a £5 loss or a £50 loss?
In terms of staking whatever the size of my bank I wouldn't use anything much above minimum of £2 to maximum of £20 until I was making a profit and had the discipline to cut my losses quickly. Once you can make a regular profit with lower stakes then you will feel better about increasing your stake size. I would go from £20 to £30 , £30 to £40 and so on. Suddenly going from £20 to £500 makes the heart beat and this isn't good for focusing or your health.
As well as this only play with money you have saved specially for trading. If you are nervous when you enter a trade because you are playing with your wife's new dress fund you won't do any good. You will see the price move against you , start to pray it will come back and watch it go against you even more. Suddenly your wife's new dress is only a dream and yu will be spending a few weeks in the dog house.
What changed it for me were the following:
1. deciding what I will do first when I arrive at a market. ie what grade of race is it, what are the prices of the horses. Try to derive from this the likely market behaviour. Will it be stable or erratic. Scalp or swing.
2. realising the market is like a see saw, one horse goes out in price another comes in. You can take advantage of this. The market always has to stay in balance. Mugsgame from this platform has described this a lot in his posts.
3. And most important for me was: finally realising that when it goes against me to get out asap. It took me forever to get this into my head. I would sit and watch the price go against me in the hope it would return. Don't do this , cut for a small loss and look at the situation again. Once it goes it seldom comes back, so what do you want a £5 loss or a £50 loss?
In terms of staking whatever the size of my bank I wouldn't use anything much above minimum of £2 to maximum of £20 until I was making a profit and had the discipline to cut my losses quickly. Once you can make a regular profit with lower stakes then you will feel better about increasing your stake size. I would go from £20 to £30 , £30 to £40 and so on. Suddenly going from £20 to £500 makes the heart beat and this isn't good for focusing or your health.
As well as this only play with money you have saved specially for trading. If you are nervous when you enter a trade because you are playing with your wife's new dress fund you won't do any good. You will see the price move against you , start to pray it will come back and watch it go against you even more. Suddenly your wife's new dress is only a dream and yu will be spending a few weeks in the dog house.
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AmazingMisterX
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:35 am
Great post. How long did it take you before you became 'profitable'?
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tweebie1999
- Posts: 89
- Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:23 am
It took me about 3 years in total. Once I began to cut my losses quickly and focus on staying out of trouble it began to turn.
I think cutting losses is the leverage for me to go in profit. I make 5, 10 or 15 good trades and at the end there is this one soccer / football game where I stay too long because it can't happen that team B scores and not team A ... and my whole win belongs to someone else...
Looking for the masterclass next week...
And - as I've read above - my three years are full, too. So it's time to go into profit.
Best regards,
Chris
Looking for the masterclass next week...
And - as I've read above - my three years are full, too. So it's time to go into profit.
Best regards,
Chris