motorhead wrote:I've noticed that this large profits (1k per race) are always done in races with high odds on every horse (around 7.00-11.00 decimal odds).
If you browse through my blog you will see that this is definately not the case. The problem you have at higher odds is yes, you can get some decent profits through, but then you need to green them up by dividing at those odds, so what you gain in tick increments is lost in the greening process.
The big totals come from just hitting the sweet spot of a market which has volume or a big swing. If you browse the Barney Curley thread there was a race the other week where everybody had the potential to completely slaughter a market. You could have caught the move on either side or just one but there were opportunites in both directions. I actually traded it on two accounts so I could grab some screen shots to use in an article on swing trading. I used a smaller bank for demonstration purposes, but still managed £500 gross and just short of £200 net on that race. Most markets can absorb trade volume of five figures easily, but a big market could take six and any trades done at those levels have the potential to reach £1k but you would need a bank that could take fairly large liabilities to achieve that.
When I first started I would think £10 was just great, but from there you inevitably start trying to reach higher levels, first £100 then you push up from there. However, most your time is usually spent just trying to get anything out of a market. I would say I spend 99% of my time just trying to stay out of trouble and searching and prodding the market for an opportunity. If I find one then I increase stakes and start doing it properly but the majority of races just don't present anything, so I will just take what I have and wait for an opportunity.
I'd say the flaw with a lot of novice traders is that they expect something from every market and quite often you can go quite a few races where opportunities just don't occur. So that's why I spend most of my time trying to stay out of trouble, it helps minimise any potential losses. Make sure the market is your slave and not your master.