February 2009 Summary

Account at start: £40
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Tick size: 20p
Total races: 95
Profit: £11.08 (27.7% return)
Average profit per race: 11.6p
Total days trading: 7
Average profit per day trading: £1.58
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Win days: 5
Win races: 68 (71.5%)
Total win: £29.17
Average win per race: 42.8p
Highest win: £3.34
Average win % x average win per race = £30.60
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Loss days: 2
Loss races: 27 (28.5%)
Total Loss: 18.13
Average loss per race: 0.67p
Biggest Loss: £5.10
Average loss % x average loss per race = £19.12
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Account at end: £51.08

Good end to the 1st month

Results from 28th February - Day 7:

Consistency....

Results from 27th February - Day 6:



I am quite pleased with progress. I am still experimenting and taking some risks, just to see what the outcome is. I am still not primarily aiming to make money but very focused on not losing any. I find that aiming for not losing money is actually heping me to make more money! I dont know quite why that is but its working. I am trying some new things, such as carrying a losing position in running and then redding up in play. I have actually saved losses this way - every penny counts. I have also tried dutching a few races with some success where I havent felt there were great opportunities to scalp.

I dont think I have mentioned that I started off with £40 in my account. I am now back in the black whihc is good news and my main goal for March is to experiment further, keep learning and to ensure that losses are kept to a minimum. If I focus on this then I am confident I will have more that £40 in my account by the end of March.

Its starting to work

Results from 26th February - Day 5:

Trading Method 1

The method that I am having some success with at the moment is placing a high back bet and a low lay bet into the market slightly out of the current price range, especially where I can be close to the front of the queue. (This will be more important as stake size increases) If the price moves in either direction closer to my own back or lay position I can then place an opposing bet and hope the price movement continues on. For example assume a horse is trading at odds of 4.4 and I have a back bet at 4.6 and a lay bet at 4.2. Assume now that the weight of money starts to force the price in. As the price hits 4.3 I will enter a back trade and hope that the swing continues on to accept my lay bet at 4.2 also. I will have have successfully traded for a tick if this method works. One the price settles I do the same and try and repeat as many times as possible before the off. This method prevents me from trying to guess which way the price will go and puts me in a position to win whichever way the price moves. All I have to ensure is that my timing is right to put in my counter trade and that the price movement continues so that my original bet is taken out too.

This seems to work best where there is reasonable volatility. You don’t want to enter your initial bets too far out of the current range and equally you do not want so much volatility that you cant get your counter trade in before your initial bet gets taken.

A good run

Results from 22nd February - Day 4:



Hooray - no losses! I know these trading profits are mere pennies but I am only using 20p tick sizes at present. Also its not about the money at the moment its about not losing more than I make (not achieving this though yet!), implementing scalp and swing trading methods, and more importantly sticking to the game plan and remaining unemotional about any subsequent result. I am staying disciplined which is good news. One problem I noticed today is that I dont have the funds in my account to maintain the same tick size stake across the board. I will need to add additional funds this week.
Also I got caught out today at points where the odds cross the line where the stake size changes. I will have to pay more attention to this going forward.
Overall this week I traded 58 races, won or drew on 41 and lost on 17 representing 70% success rate. However I was £8.60 down so this has to improve.
I have also realised that on some races my wins were so small that fees wiped out any profit. For next week I may increase both my funds avaialble and increase the tick size stake to 40p.
I doubt I wil get a chance to trade again this week until thursday or friday.

Still losing but getting better

Results from 21st February - Day 3:


My trading was ok in the main on saturday. I tried to follow my ponts set out in the post below and in most cases I was able to stay disciplined. However I had one hiccup that ended up tainting the entire days results. During the pre-race trading for the 16:35 at Newcastle I lost my internet connection. By the time the line was up again the market had moved against me. Foolishly I tried to square off my position during the race but wasnt able to do it successfully. Its taught me a lesson I will hopefully not repeat again and I will have to consider my options to avoid being left exposed by internet connection failures. - laptop with mobile broadband connection?

The Learning Curve

Results from 20th February - Day 2:



You will have to forgive my results at the moment as I am learning and experimenting. As I have said before my focus is not on profit, more on not losing ( although the above stats suggest I am not even doing that!)
Its early days and I am still working on formulating a trading method and imposing some trading guidelines. Here are some I have so far:

• Close all positions before the 'off'. Absolutely no positions to be taken 'in running' (At least until I understand the markets better and have a clear indication of whether the prices are likely to work in my favour after the 'off'').
• Close losing postions quicker. My big losses (relatively speaking) today were in situations where I was waiting for the price to come back even where it was 6 or 7 ticks adrift.
• Ensure the stake per tick size remains constan for all races.
  
• Red up all losses for the sake of consistency
• Only enter into planned trades. (I tried several races where I entered trades at random, the result was a 50:50 win not surprisingly)
• Keep a notebook ready for each race - record what was done well and what was done badly.
• Start slowly. For instance, trade for an hour at a time, and then assess what you have done, always asking yourself the question: did I follow my plan, or did I make non-method trades
• Remain neutral during trading - dont get excited by wins or upset by losses.

Less than Zero

Day 1 and I started using minimum stakes of £2 and just watched what was happening via the Bet Angel ladder. I entered a trade when I felt I had some idea what was going on. I had no plan other than to see if my ideas were sound and my timing was ok. I guess playing with such low stakes takes away some of the panic when things go against you but I really wasnt thinking at all about the money, I was just asking myself -"Have I made a good trade?" If yes I play on if not I get out of it straight away and watch and wait for another oportunity...if there is one.

I am posting my results only to keep as a progress log. My only ambition at this point is to learn and not lose money. I dont know when I will get a chance to trade again this week, but I'll keep posting here after each days trades.

Results from 18th February - Day 1:

Starting at Zero

This blog has one purpose; to diarise my sport trading ambitions and progress. I have absolutely no preconceptions, no goals, no targets, no long term plan, or strategy. I am not trying to turn £1000 into £100k or £150k within a year and I am not trying to make more than 10% return per day. I am merely aiming to be the best trader I can be and to take more profit than losses over any time period.

I started trading in July last year with a £100 stake. After a month I had lost it all and with hindsight I am astonished that I didnt lose it all much sooner. In August I enrolled on Peter Webbs course where I started to learn what trading was all about. I came away with ideas, strategies and dreams. I put £200 into my betfair account and started from scratch.

Within 4 weeks I had made .............nothing. I lost it all again. Same result, but achieved in a completely different way. Although once again I lost it making the same mistakes as first time round.

Since then I took some time out, refelcted on what I had done and what I had learnt from both the course and the mistakes made and decided to return and try again at some point in the future.

That time is now.

But before I bankroll myself and start to trade again I am going to spend some time immersing myself into the markets and I am going to become a student of Horse Racing.

For the time being I am going to sbscribe to Bet Angel Pro, follow the races and really try and understand what all the information is telling me. When I am ready I will put some funds into my Betfair account

Dont expect anything too soon, I might be a while...........