TAKING A CHANCE

Thoughts for today, totally different types of markets on a Saturday due to the higher liquidity which resulted in me changing styles. Went really well up until the last trade when i was down -0.32. I needed 0.10 to reach £1 for the day and was unwilling to take the loss. I went in play and got matched at 0.22. Probably need to lose my bank to learn my lesson. Got to cut that out or it will bite me.

ONE MISTAKE.

Made one mistake today, but will cost me heavily if i carry on doing it. For the 2nd time i left a trade go in play, even though i was only 1 tick down. Luckily i got matched straight away and scratched it. Need to learn quickly.

ANOTHER DAY OF CONSISTANCY

Going to try to keep this level of consistency and discipline now and just add things that i have a higher probability chance of landing.

2 BAD DAYS IN A ROW, BUT TODAY WAS BETTER.

Today was the first time i feel i've applied my edge in a disciplined and controlled manner, and it showed.
1st P/L was for the 2 days 26-27th ,and 2nd is for today.

2 BIG LOSSES LET ME DOWN

HOPEFULLY A BIT OF CONSISTANCY TO COME.

WOOPS!

Terrible again yesterday, i realise i just got carried away and started being reckless. I was £10-£15 stakes willy nilly. I've now gone back to £2 stakes, and am adopting a risk adverse attitude

.

LAST 2 DAYS!

Last couple of days as i missed posting yesterday. Pretty poor performances, especially yesterday as i took a big dent in my P/L chasing loses wit a  'never care less attitude'! Bit better today but had too may big loses.

SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE RETURNING

Done a lot better with today's trades. Only managed to get 10 trades in, winning 7 and losing 3. Bit disappointing that i still managed to be down 0.02 overall though. Used mainly £5 stakes as there weren't any odds on trades today. I feel ive got some of the ingredients needed to make a consistent profit, but its bringing them all together at the same time. I'm glad that im at least concious of what's missing on a day to day basis and more experience with reading my signals correctly will help that.

ONE WORD, SHOCKING!

Another poor day, done okay the back 10 and had to wrap for the day just as i was getting a feel again for the market. Tried trading a couple of evening meetings with my Ping at 153 and has an absolute nightmare, so sacked it.

TERRIBLE DAY

Wiped out my profits and more today, letting loses go on, not taking profits, not sticking to strategy, not sticking to staking plan, chasing loses, basically working against the market. Had 2 big loses and they hurt, stopped early as i was being reckless and wanted to preserve some of my bank. Cant trade tomorrow so ill be back on friday, back down to £2 stakes to start again.

Ive definitely tried to run before i can walk and ive paid for it. At least i haven't blown my bank!!
All ive got to do now is find a way of reversing the + and - on the P/L, lol.

TOUGH ONE TODAY

Wasn't really with it today, didn't find i was flowing with the market at times, and was over trading, not waiting for signals and getting in on a whim! I do seem to be taking my loses earlier, which is accounting for a lower strike rate as i was winning a few more due to letting losses come back in, its finding a balance i guess. I had 22 races today with 14 wins and 8 loses (S/R 64%). The only reason i ended in profit was because i caught a huge drifter (which i was initially on the wrong side of!), so im not clouded by the fact im up for the day, although at this stage really its about bank preservation.

P/L for today was £3.67.
Bank= £109.52.

INCONCISTENCY!

Traded another 25 races in all today, winning 18 and losing 7(S/R 72%) with a profit of £3.55. After trying a few ways of staking ive decided to use £10 for odds on, £5 for 2-5 and £2 for anything over odds of 5. Im not too disappointed today as i only had 1 Medium sized loss and cut the others quite early, but ive got to be more consistent, but i know that will come when ive traded more markets and start getting more experienced. My winning trades aren't quite big enough as im still not adding to them as i should.

I noticed a couple of interesting things in the market today, so if i can gain just one piece of experience or a bit of knowledge per day ill be happy, work is quiet at the moment so im managing around 3-4 on the ladder each day. Now i need to have a look through a few of my recorded trades and see where im going wrong and what i can do to improve. The only goal i have set myself thus far is too trade 1000 markets, all different and only then will i really evaluate my position and decided where to go and what goals to set.

Days Traded= 7
Total Markets Traded= 147
Av. Markets Per Day= 21
Wins= 106
Loses= 41
Total S/R= 72%
Total P/L (Excluding 5% Comm.) =£5.17
Bank= £105.17

Today's P/L,

WHAT A DAY!

Well, I traded 27 markets with no real preference as im still trying to just gaining as much experience as possible. What i would like to do is filter some markets that are best for me to trade (ie, certain amounts of volume, number of runners, big gambles, etc). Its been a really strange day and i definitely need a day off completely tomorrow, I actually woke up last night thinking i was ON the betfair ladder as a price!, and im feeling a bit robotic!

Back to today, i was feeling really consistent and was green for the 1st 9 races. It was at this point that i got over confident and decided to raise my stakes. I wasn't feeling any emotion using £2 stakes, it had completely gone and i felt calm during all 9 races. This was when i was starting to lose my bond with the market and started to feel superior to it. I started using £10 stakes and then wham, down over £4. Honestly, i didn't feel upset or angry, i was glad that the market give me a kick up the arse, as i was leaving trades go beyond my stop loss, and luckily watching them come back in, until now!

I decided to carry on using the £10 stakes because i felt that it was nothing to do with the amount i was risking, but was actually a product of my overconfidence. From there i yet again said to myself that i would cut my losses earlier, even if it meant a LOSS. I think that i was getting too used to winning and just didn't know what to do when i lost! I had 5 more wins then another big loss before i reached some consistency and took some losses earlier. Now, i know i win a lot more than i lose and maybe i need to lose a few more to get that level of consistency needed. I hope i now respect the market and work with it at all times, and never against it which i did in the last 10 races, and hopefully you can see that in the video, which was the last race i did.

I had 24 winners today's and 4 losers, a strike rate of 86%, ending up with £3.65 profit! Ive now trade 122 markets with 89 wins and 33 losses, s/r of 73 %.
The big losses have got to go! Here's the P/L and video for today. Sorry for the deviation on the video, its only for about 20 seconds!

KEY IS TO STAY CALM! FRIDAY WAS A GOOD DAY!

I made the decision to try something different, and obvious i suppose. I secluded myself and used a technique that relates well to the market to keep myself calm, and it paid dividends today. As soon as i started i felt in tune with the market and consciously made the decision NOT to fight it, the market will do what it wants irellative of whether i get wound up or not, and instead of getting all internalised i made a decision and stood by it in the main, thereby remaining in the market flow. I traded 15 races and finished the day with 14 wins and 1 loss. I was flowing the right way but there were 2 issues that i feel i need to resolve immediately, and i will be concentrating on them next week and maybe tomorrow if i get a chance to trade.

 Even though i was calling the price direction correct i was still scalping out way too early only to watch the price carry on that way a few more ticks, from now on i will be more confident in my choices and set better exit points. The other thing was that i decided to concentrate purely on price action today, even leaving the live feed off, big mistake. This time i was lucky, i was so engrossed in one trade that i lost track of the countdown timer, and ended up in play, luckily i managed to hedge out early, but my P/L could have been a lot different otherwise!

The following 2 videos are of today's trades. The 1st video was all done to patience, i was fairly confident the price was going to be backed down and stood by my choice. The second video i took a few scalps when i was confident that the price was going to move in that direction.

TODAYS THOUGHTS AND P/L

Another profitable day, traded 17 markets, most during the day, a couple in the evening, felt I had a better understanding of the market and felt calmer trading, most of the time anyway! Things were going well until about the 12th trade and left a big loss go and go. The next race after I felt like i was gambling and trying to recoup the big loss. Luckily I managed a big win, but I found it stressful, lesson learned! Of course, these arent really BIG losses, but in relativity to the stakes they are!

12 wins and 5 losses today. So far I've accumulated 47 wins with 25 losses, almost a 2:1 ratio. In four days ive traded 72 markets and i think i have to concentrate hard up until Sunday to cut these big losses a lot earlier. Plenty of hours in front of the laptop will hopefully sort that!

If anyone experienced is reading this any feedback or ideas on how to cut these losses would be appreciated.

TODAYS VIDEOS!

BETTER DAY

Well today was a lot better day than the last couple for a few reasons. I focused today on my discipline and it showed with me selecting 14 races, getting out of my losing trades quickly and waiting for the right signals. I will post a couple of videos and my P/L for today.I mostly scalped which i found less stressful than looking and waiting for swings.

2ND DAY TRADING

Well, today went as bad if not worse than yesterday. I traded 22 races, including evening meetings. I yet again let losses run after convincing myself to cut them short as soon as i reach my stop loss. Learnt more about the market again today especially the correlation between low priced favs and 2nd favs. Hopefully i can start implementing what i know and stop the feeling of Fear that is without a doubt holding me back.

Ive only put £100 in my bank to start, and I am taking the whole bank as a Betfair Trading investment and i aim to put as many hours in as possible to get a feel for the market. Its very hard at the moment to spot indicators of price movement and it will only come with experience, all I am doing at the moment is trying to be concious of as much as possible on any price movements, and  i am simultaneously working on my phycological side when trading. I know how i should feel when trading, but without the experience of watching price move, i think there will naturally be some fear involved, even when playing for pennies.

FIRST VIDEO

P/L FOR TODAY!!

FIRST DAY WITH REAL MONEY!

Learnt a lot today on my first trading day live, albeit with low level stakes. I did actually feel quite nervous entering trades which i didn't really expect. I traded for 4 hours with 24 races of different liquidity just to really get a feeling of the different markets and their volatility. I definitely suffered from all the old chiche trading problems, countless times i got in too late, out too early when greened up and left my losses run too long. Once i accidentally left a trade go in play, and i suffered my worst loss.
I will post up P/L for the day and the 1 video I recorded. I feel that I have learned quite a bit about market movement, but to improve I need a lot more hours watching the price action and getting a feel for the movements in different level liquidity markets. Also, i am fully aware of the psychological problems i am creating myself, its just a case of relaxing and going with the market flow i suppose.

FIRST POST!

Well, this is my first post, sitting down on a Saturday Morning. I'm set up with Betfair, and im using the AGT software at the moment, which I find top notch, could possibly do with a few more graphs to be honest, but its got enough in general. I've only been paper trading so far and roughly broke even trading the Horse Pre Race, using mainly Swings, with a bit of Scalping , though my Swing Trading is better at the moment. The things ive struggled with are the same old trading issues of, getting in too late, getting out of winners too early, over trading and leaving losers run too long.

Anyway, this weekend im setting up with real money for a start on Befair money, Trading the Pre Race. Il be looking to do as many races as possible (as the wife allows, time wise really!), to get as much experience as possible, using mainly Swing Trades, and a small amount of scalping. I think ive learnt a few tricks and can read the Market fairly well, although this is just the beginning. Ill post up profit/loss every week and try to video a few trades for mine and anyone who wants to watch benefit. Ill start with a low £100 bank, with £2 stakes, and a stop loss of 15-20%, depending on how I read the market. My Risk to Reward Ratio is still a plan in action at the moment.

The posts will generally have a bit about how the Trading day went, how i felt Trading, how many Races,Trades i played, hopefully a recording of a trade and profit/loss for the day, along with anything else I fancy putting in.