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?