You haven't actually lost money yet - you're back to where you started
Listen, I was that person many years back, so it is possible to change
I have said this countless of times on this forum, but the difference between a successful trader and a bankrupt one, is what they do when faced with a red screen
Appears simple but is devilishly difficult.
I agree completely, the thing that trips people up consistently is there aversion to losses. It's amazing really, but completely understandable. Our emotions were created when we were afraid of getting eaten by a lion so it's natural to try and avoid that.
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marksmeets302
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:37 pm
Here's a simple idea. Why not protect yourself from going in-play? I'm sure it's possible to hedge up after the market goes in play with some betangel automation. Once the loss is taken you'll feel better.
Another idea: break the pattern. Next time the market goes in-play and you have an open position don't stare at the screen but do this: have a bottle of water some 5(*) meters away from you. Walk over there, take 2 or 3 sips, return to your screen and immediately hit the greenup button.
Then again, you might be too nervous about all this. You act like your very existence depends on the outcome of the next trade. It doesn't
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(*) I'll leave the conversion to feet or yards as an exercise to the reader
Another idea: break the pattern. Next time the market goes in-play and you have an open position don't stare at the screen but do this: have a bottle of water some 5(*) meters away from you. Walk over there, take 2 or 3 sips, return to your screen and immediately hit the greenup button.
Then again, you might be too nervous about all this. You act like your very existence depends on the outcome of the next trade. It doesn't
.(*) I'll leave the conversion to feet or yards as an exercise to the reader
Quick Update..
Bank now up to £176.67 so going the right way.
Not going to give it a large one about having cracked it because I've had too many false dawns before but what I will say is "cut out the mistakes" is what I think about all the time now when trading.
For the time being, what I do right can remain but what I do wrong needs attention and slowly but surely the mistakes are decreasing and the bank is increasing.
We'll see start of Feb how I've got on.
Happy New Year.
Bank now up to £176.67 so going the right way.
Not going to give it a large one about having cracked it because I've had too many false dawns before but what I will say is "cut out the mistakes" is what I think about all the time now when trading.
For the time being, what I do right can remain but what I do wrong needs attention and slowly but surely the mistakes are decreasing and the bank is increasing.
We'll see start of Feb how I've got on.
Happy New Year.
Quick update...
Bank is now up to £328.08 so won some money.
Still taking far too many risks so I'm not proud of this result, I'd rather have won £50 without going in-play once than £150 chancing my arm. The problem I seem to find is that the more I win, the more lazy and sloppy I become in my approach because I start to feel that I've cracked it.
I got into a good rhythm mid Jan and was making good progress, then one day a trade went wrong so I gambled £296 to win £23. Totally stupid and reckless. My loss got up to £70 but the horse got beat so I got away with it, I could feel my pulse getting faster and faster and am just fed up with putting myself under pressure like this.
I am starting to feel like I can't control my actions because I can say to myself a million times "don't go in play" but it means **** all because once I'm in a big red position my brain scrambles and I'm all over the place. I must add though that I do often take reds and scratch trades all the time in fact but it's when I drop my guard and that maximum loss of £5 is now £9.40, thats when anything goes.
In Feb, I'm going to attempt to go a whole month without going in play regardless of how much I win or lose. I think actually I'll post up on here frequently through the month to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Incidentally, I treat this thread as a monthly exercise to come clean about myself and my failings. I don't type all this because I expect anyone to be interested in my inability to trade, I do it because it kind of takes the weight off my shoulders a bit in the sense that I can be honest and admit all the things that I do wrong.
By the end of this year, I want to be able to post about what I've done right and how I did it.
Long way to go......
Bank is now up to £328.08 so won some money.
Still taking far too many risks so I'm not proud of this result, I'd rather have won £50 without going in-play once than £150 chancing my arm. The problem I seem to find is that the more I win, the more lazy and sloppy I become in my approach because I start to feel that I've cracked it.
I got into a good rhythm mid Jan and was making good progress, then one day a trade went wrong so I gambled £296 to win £23. Totally stupid and reckless. My loss got up to £70 but the horse got beat so I got away with it, I could feel my pulse getting faster and faster and am just fed up with putting myself under pressure like this.
I am starting to feel like I can't control my actions because I can say to myself a million times "don't go in play" but it means **** all because once I'm in a big red position my brain scrambles and I'm all over the place. I must add though that I do often take reds and scratch trades all the time in fact but it's when I drop my guard and that maximum loss of £5 is now £9.40, thats when anything goes.
In Feb, I'm going to attempt to go a whole month without going in play regardless of how much I win or lose. I think actually I'll post up on here frequently through the month to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Incidentally, I treat this thread as a monthly exercise to come clean about myself and my failings. I don't type all this because I expect anyone to be interested in my inability to trade, I do it because it kind of takes the weight off my shoulders a bit in the sense that I can be honest and admit all the things that I do wrong.
By the end of this year, I want to be able to post about what I've done right and how I did it.
Long way to go......
you are fighting the hard wiring in your brain. its been wired over millions of years, to protect your assests etc. it is not been designed for trading, it/you are seeing a loss as a threat/attack on your assets, and it/you will fight to save them to the bitter end.
learning to take ticks is easy, learning to control yourself is hard, as you have to overcome emotions and instincts and reactions to threats (real or percieved) that have worked extremly well for millions of years.
you are obviously struggling on that side of trading.
how to get over it? i dont think there is a simple method/technique whatever.
you either can or you cant.
not much help i know or a dig but, be careful you dont end up wasting all your time and money on something that your brain may not have the best wiring for.
have you tried other markets? maybe you would be better off trading something other than horse races?
learning to take ticks is easy, learning to control yourself is hard, as you have to overcome emotions and instincts and reactions to threats (real or percieved) that have worked extremly well for millions of years.
you are obviously struggling on that side of trading.
how to get over it? i dont think there is a simple method/technique whatever.
you either can or you cant.
not much help i know or a dig but, be careful you dont end up wasting all your time and money on something that your brain may not have the best wiring for.
have you tried other markets? maybe you would be better off trading something other than horse races?
Here is the problem and the SOLUTION you are facing, explained - it's worth watching both videos till the end 
http://youtu.be/lGZyw6PIRvY
http://youtu.be/l6byGO1q8nk
Hope it helps and DON'T GIVE UP!
http://youtu.be/lGZyw6PIRvY
http://youtu.be/l6byGO1q8nk
Hope it helps and DON'T GIVE UP!
to75ne - For me it's a bit like losing weight or giving up smoking, everyone knows how to do it but millions aren't able to do it for whatever reason. If I don't let the red get out of hand in the first place then the situation wouldn't occur like it has been in Jan.
It will be interesting to see this month how little I win (if at all) when I accept reds and don't risk my bank.
I have tried football trading with some success but I don't really know what I'm doing so I'll tread carefully.
Andrejt - Thanks for the link, my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the first one was 6 hrs long
I've bought my Kindle to work today so I can work my way through it, I did start watching it last night in bed but only got about 10mins in before falling asleep. I hope that was down to tiredness rather than a reflection of the program content 
It will be interesting to see this month how little I win (if at all) when I accept reds and don't risk my bank.
I have tried football trading with some success but I don't really know what I'm doing so I'll tread carefully.
Andrejt - Thanks for the link, my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the first one was 6 hrs long
I've bought my Kindle to work today so I can work my way through it, I did start watching it last night in bed but only got about 10mins in before falling asleep. I hope that was down to tiredness rather than a reflection of the program content The program content is excatly what you are looking for, but the whole seminar lasts a long time yupLammtarra wrote: I hope that was down to tiredness rather than a reflection of the program content
I needed one week for the whole seminar, but learned a lot from it.
Keep us posted about your progress
February update.
I had been pondering whether to type a million words or just cut to it (I chose the latter) so with that in mind, my Feb update is very simple and goes like this:
Started the month with good intentions (as usual)
went in play 5 or 6 times in the first week and got away with it.
Lost £60 mid month by doing that but DID NOT chase it so got nowhere for a week.
Started building the bank back up, got to £376 and then on 26th layed a 16/1 winner and follwed that up with a 6/1 winner. It takes some doing to be such a cock, the only consolation I have is that I didn't risk the whole bank but it feels like I have.
I started with £328.08 and now have £131.06 - I just won't learn.
So back to the beginning again and off we go into March. It's knocked me back 3 months but I have decided that I am going to give it until September.
I started trying to do this properly from September 1st 2014 and if I win 1% per day, I would have £1000 by September 2015. If I havn't got at least £500 by then, I'll call it a day as that would be a whole year of bodging my way along.
The 26th February 2015 has gone down in history to me personally as the day that Laying/going in-play stopped. I've said this hundreds of times before but this time I really mean it and no matter what the result is at the end of March, I'll post on here regardless.
One things for sure, if I do get there that first £1000 is going to be sweet.
I had been pondering whether to type a million words or just cut to it (I chose the latter) so with that in mind, my Feb update is very simple and goes like this:
Started the month with good intentions (as usual)
went in play 5 or 6 times in the first week and got away with it.
Lost £60 mid month by doing that but DID NOT chase it so got nowhere for a week.
Started building the bank back up, got to £376 and then on 26th layed a 16/1 winner and follwed that up with a 6/1 winner. It takes some doing to be such a cock, the only consolation I have is that I didn't risk the whole bank but it feels like I have.
I started with £328.08 and now have £131.06 - I just won't learn.
So back to the beginning again and off we go into March. It's knocked me back 3 months but I have decided that I am going to give it until September.
I started trying to do this properly
from September 1st 2014 and if I win 1% per day, I would have £1000 by September 2015. If I havn't got at least £500 by then, I'll call it a day as that would be a whole year of bodging my way along. The 26th February 2015 has gone down in history to me personally as the day that Laying/going in-play stopped. I've said this hundreds of times before but this time I really mean it and no matter what the result is at the end of March, I'll post on here regardless.
One things for sure, if I do get there that first £1000 is going to be sweet.
I've said it many times on this forum, but the first step towards being a successful trader is not to lose money - even if the profits are very small, that doesn't matter.
From experience, I can honestly say I learned more from my cock ups than I did from the green trades. Every time you lose money write it down in a book to remind yourself of that trade - when did you enter the trade and why, when did you exit the trade and why, what stakes were you using?? etc
Eventually, a picture starts to form showing what is stopping you from moving forward
I still have a book of all my bad trades from 2005-08. Looking back, I can't believe how much money I lost on trades that I'd never even consider today
From experience, I can honestly say I learned more from my cock ups than I did from the green trades. Every time you lose money write it down in a book to remind yourself of that trade - when did you enter the trade and why, when did you exit the trade and why, what stakes were you using?? etc
Eventually, a picture starts to form showing what is stopping you from moving forward
I still have a book of all my bad trades from 2005-08. Looking back, I can't believe how much money I lost on trades that I'd never even consider today
I agree. Anything zero or above is a good trade for me no matter the size.LeTiss 4pm wrote:I've said it many times on this forum, but the first step towards being a successful trader is not to lose money - even if the profits are very small, that doesn't matter.
Thanks for your kind words everyone, I appreciate it.
I know this has probably been done to death on here but what is the general view on taking a price or requesting a price i.e lay at available price or go 1 tick lower. I usually take whats available because I hate watching the price shoot away in the right direction with me not on it. If that happens to you do you let it go or chase it out?
I know theres probably not a definitive answer but every time I trade I wonder what is the "professional standard" so I know for the future.
Thanks again.
I know this has probably been done to death on here but what is the general view on taking a price or requesting a price i.e lay at available price or go 1 tick lower. I usually take whats available because I hate watching the price shoot away in the right direction with me not on it. If that happens to you do you let it go or chase it out?
I know theres probably not a definitive answer but every time I trade I wonder what is the "professional standard" so I know for the future.
Thanks again.