End of month round up

I suppose the time has come for an end of the month round up. At the turn of the year I had £12.14 and today I have £101.79, this gives a total profit of £89.65, I traded 311 horse races giving me an average of £0.28 per race, I have said previously that its the little wins that soon adds up and seeing them in black and white just reassures me that my discipline, determination and effort has all been worth while.

Good Luck

Keep it green

Betfair Upgrade?

Betfair have carried out site maintenance, well what I would like to know is when are they going to finish it, I made more than £1 in the only race I am going to trade today, it was like pure guess work as the lag on the screen was so bad, so I have given up and don't want to risk any money until its a bit more stable. But good luck if your are carrying on this afternoon.

Betfair is back after maintenance

Well it appears Betfair is back now after some scheduled maintenance, let hope its ok for a good days sports trading

Bigger stakes = bigger returns or bigger losses

Today I learn't two lessons, one more important than the other-

1. As stakes increase, so do the size of losses.
2. Don't trade when you was out all day and night on the previous day.

I have logged out of The Geeks Toys and decided that I will accept what has happened and will not be trading on the day after a few too many beers again.

People say there two kinds of trades in this game- those that give you money and those that give you information. Thanks for the info lol

As I have worked hard at trading to get to £100 I am not going to risk it, so I am treating today as a day off and I still managed to turn a profit, even it was only 41p, still better than a down day

Good luck

Keep it green

£10 STAKES

That's right I have passed the £100 mark in the last few minutes and now I will trade on £10 stake until my bank reaches £200, also I am adjusting my daily target to 4% but if I feel I can go further and likewise if its not achievable I wont chase it. Not doing any more trading today, will get back on it tomorrow.

Keep it green

Trading - Friday close bring new highs

Really feel like I am getting into the swing of this new trading routine, that I have got going here each day, its goes like this

• Scalp a horse and hedge
• Assess the market for any gaps
• Decide whether to get involved or minimise the race
• Wait for Countdown clock to sound, (those with The Geeks Toy know what I am waiting for)
• Close race and move onto the next

The pic I posted kind of contradicts what I have just wrote as I was trading away and had a loss on one horse and had moved to another one, when as soon as I placed my lay bet the market spiked upwards and I closed for a bigger than average profit, my trading bankroll is nearing £100 and I am concious of being at such a milestone as previously I have struggled with the increased staking and bigger losses to face, they are the same size losses proportional but obviously have a greater value when using bigger stakes. So I will see how I go over the next few weeks.

Total profit today was £11.20 from an £87 bank, not bad returns that I think.

Keep it green

New page, new article on trading

See post above in title bar

Made a bit more money on the exchange today

Well when I say a bit, I mean more like 15% of bank today and it feels like a good return for sitting here watching ladders go up and down all day. I suppose that I only feel this confident as its something I can do everyday, at the moment that is, I think I would rather be in full time employment than living off what I have, but hopefully I can tip the balance and start taking a 'wage' so to speak, I mean even if I was withdrawing just £15 a day, its £450 at the end of the month, and obviously hopefully it wont stay at £15 a day if I am also trying to increase my bankroll by 1% a day.
Apart trading does anyone else you use Matched betting to supplement there bank growth as I have done most of the offers a few years ago, but I see BET365 have daily promo where they refund your stake if you lose, so is there a way of over/under laying on betfair to guarantee a profit, sure its something I have read in the past but don't know where.

Anyway that's me rambling on I went through today quite well but came a cropper a few races before I stopped as I lost £1.54 on one race, is tiredness kicking in, over confidence creeping in or me just being lazy? I think I am going to start making myself take break every hour and half I think just refresh myself.

Goodluck

Keep it green

I posted an article on this blog today, you can navigate to it from the title bar at the top of the page.

19 Markets Later

Yes that's right 19 markets later, I am £5.46 better off, although the majority of today went smoothly I always seem to start off fidgety and make silly mistakes, for example I made £0.19 and £0.28 in the first two races, not massive amounts but good for me, I then went and lost £0.81 in the third race, its like I need shocking into play (not inplay) to make me feel like I am sat here to do something, is it common that traders do better when they are in recovery mode, apart from that it was good to see the profits slowly dripping into my account

Goodluck

Keep it green

Daily assessment

With five horse race meetings today, that will provide plenty of trading opportunities, but not too sure I will be trading all of them as one is a early evening meeting and doesn't finish until 1935. So whatever you are doing to today, I hope it goes well.

Goodluck

Keep it green

Seriously need to concentrate

I seriously need to concentrate at all times, I traded 23 markets today and made £5.15 profit, the only negative I can take from the day is losing focus part way through the day as I made a series of losses with the highest of £2.30, this made a massive dent in my daily profit, something I will have to pay attention to in the future, I had a good look over the geeks toy forum between races today good info over there and a good laugh at the same time as being a professional outfit.

On top of making ten times bigger losses that my average return per race I could  feel myself being greedy and trying to strike gold, but I'm sure its something I will get on top of as the figures involved get bigger and now that the return is starting to feel worthwhile. I have be writing lists to myself about what makes a good trader, in an effort to drill home the qualities that are needed as a sports trader.

Goodluck

Keep it green

Unexpected Day Off Trading

Not done a single trade today on betfair, as my daughters were both not feeling to well when they woke up this morning, so we have ended up spending the day at the walk in centre/hospital, they are both fine now. So I will return to normal trading tomorrow, should be a good day as there are 29 races in total over four meetings, one in Ireland and three in GB.

Keep it green

Sunday trading laws

Sunday trading laws, as in sods law that the only screen pic I did all afternoon, the horse was withdrawn just before the start, I didn't realise for sometime but I only noticed because of the missing amount in the P+L.

Today was very different to previous ones I have had recently, I started trading in good time for the first race and did OK for me (30p), after that I made £1.17 then lost a similar amount in the next race, after an hour of trading I was back to square one and I could feel I was trying to do too much, I was feeling in my mind something along the lines of 'if I'm not in the market I'm not making money' this attitude was leading to make too many mistakes. So I took a breather and missed  out a race, came back feeling refreshed and took the next 15 races by storm with a 30p average and ended the day with £4.95.
What I can read from today's experience is to

• Try and run before I can only just walk
• Keep my feet on the ground
• Remember what kind of target I have in mind and don't try to bust my bank getting there.

Goodluck

Keep it green

Finished what I started earlier

Came back to the pc and did some of the later races and came out on top with a 3.2% increase in the trading bank today. Total in betfair is now £61.04, not that bad actually when I look at my spreadsheet, I have nearly doubled my balance in a week. Back tomorrow for some more, Patience is the key.


Keep it green

Short days trading

Already traded the first two races today and made 1% of my trading bank, going to leave it there and go for a walk in the park with wife and kids, looked on betfair and seen that there are quiet a few meeting tomorrow, so I will make a day of it.

I finished last night on £59.04 was a really good day and didn't feel like I was trying too hard.

Keep it green

70K Spoof

Just seen why my own eyes somebody trying to spoof the market with £70,000 it didn't work as everyone seems to queue up behind it  and then thing it was for ticks up to 3.20, incidently I have made £0.87 on this race and its not even started yet. Sports trading is the future, I've won before the race starts

http://newsportsexchangetrader.blogspot.com/

I have traded on betfair for fun for quite a few years, or to put it another way,turning my £10 into a decent amount(£200+)

http://newsportsexchangetrader.blogspot.com/

Not many races, not much and still a good return

As I said the other day I am now finding it easier to trade horse race markets now because I don't stay in them until the start of the race, I am happy with the small return and I don't try and wring the neck of it and think I can make enough money to retire on from that one market. I have made £3.70+ and I will carry on for the remain few races, I mean £3.70 is not a lot of money but its over 7% of my bank, so if you think of it like that then I feel good about it.

two meeting abandoned

Two meeting abandoned, going to be a slow day on betfair, I can safely say I will be making my 5% target, never mind there is always tomorrow. But I will be glad when this cold weather has past and we are into spring time

Every days a winner

Well what I actually mean is I have won now consistently for some time now and that's how it feels. Today I took a loss on a race and sometimes I will let it go out of my head and move straight onto the next race and sometimes I can feel it in the back of my mind niggling away like 'it took x number of races to make that profit and its go in one race' cutting my losses earlier is one thing I need to pay more attention to.
It feels like you need to do a pretty good balancing act with your mind to be consistent-

• Too cautious or getting in too early
• over confident or too reserved.

I can be all of them in the same afternoon, sometimes I think I can feel like that in race, only experience will improve that.

I know my stakes aren't exactly in there with the big time traders, but having traded every day now for a few weeks, Christmas has gone and the kids are back at school, I can definitely feel that trading is becoming part of my daily routine and lets hope it continues.

keep it green

Walk in the park

I was out for a walk in the park this morning and I was thinking is this trading game a walk in the park or what? As long as we apply the same thought process to each trade in each race and do the same everyday, would it lead to a pot of gold, or as I suspect do we have to overcome the thought of laying a horse @ 9's for £100 see a massive red figure above ( even if its only for few seconds) and then going to a back of nerves? Why would we do that its the same thought process be with an extra zero or two on the end.

Half Century in the bag

I have had a big 'light bulb' moment today, I traded on The geeks toy as usual and started trading in the last ten minutes before the race starts, as you may have already read on my blog I have a target in mind for each race, and today I found that once I reached my goal for each race, I was minimizing the ladder screen so that the clock would still count down, and instead of trying make more cash (or being greedy) I filled my time on twitter, facebook or a forum, basically something else until the time was right to start in the next market.

I traded most of the races today, right up to the point where Betfair went down, I don't know my final balance for today, but I am certain that I had no open positions when it crashed. Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow and I will try the same technique again.

I made well over my 5% target today, just hope I can keep it up and keep going, at the end of the month I am going to lower the target per day to 4% for the whole of Feb and then at the start of march, I am going to try and keep it at 4% a day, but only increasing my bank by 1%  and withdrawing the rest of the days profit.

To sum up, the main thing I have learn't today is- Patience

Keep it green

Preview for today

With four meetings today for horse racing in the UK, I am aiming to make around £0.13 per race to push my bank through the £50 barrier lets hope I can pull it off.

Bettering my average

Today I traded on betfair, started at 1330 and carried on until about 1600, didn't trade every race as some markets I didn't find suitable, especially the ones with an odds on favourite and then the next horse is priced up near 10's, I just left them alone and waited for the next one.

I managed an average of £0.25 per race after betfair commission, this may not seem like much but it amounted to £3.81 for the afternoon, taking my betfair trading balance to £46.55, very happy with that, far exceeded my expectation for a days trading with my small bank.

Keep it green

GREEN ME UP SCOTTY

First may I say thanks, to the guys who commented on my previous post, really appreciate the feedback to the question I asked.
I feel a bit more prepared when it comes to pre race horse trading, understanding that we can't and won't make money in every market we enter, being prepared to accept a loss or a scratch trade, but also being happy with my decision as I know that I will have an opportunity to make some more cash on the next market.
I am most definitely able to break down my daily target into bite size chunks, i.e. with the horse racing I try and break it down into 21 bite size chunks, sometime I will make it and sometimes I wont- but that's trading.

I traded yesterday and today, making good returns on both days.
At the moment I am happy with the 3-5% a day, but I am going to start taking a wage so to speak, the only reason is that I want to start to feel like I am getting a return for my efforts(looking at my spreadsheet I aim to have over £200 in my trading bank by the end of Feb) I am going to start off taking around £5 a day or whatever I make that day -1% because I still want my bank to grow each day and still take a return for myself, I suppose its just about finding the right balance.

Goodluck Keep it green

Don't want to get carried away but.....

I have had days previously where every market you enter goes the right way and you do OK out of it and make a small profit. Today was one of those days, much like yesterday, the problem is I don't want to feel like I am over confident and made out of Teflon- non-stick and nothing will go wrong.
So I ask experienced traders out the if the wouldn't mind making a comment about how to remain consistent without being big headed and then obviously losing, what keeps your focus? Is it the idea of not losing or is it simply the drive to make the money in the first place.

I've got a few thoughts on this -

• Treat every market as individual
• Expect the unexpected
• If it can happen then it probably will.

 They have all been pulled out of trading books along the way, there are more fundamentals that I could list but I will save it for another day.

Quick round up, I pulled in £2.12 today, I did it over a couple of hours in the horse race markets and was quite content when I came to stop, there was many races still to go but I was aware that I wasn't in the mood to keep going, so I think I have beat the demon of 'one more race/one more trade or I'll stop after this one/ or the next one' you get the idea.

Goodluck keep it green

One of those profitable days..again

Today I made way over my target amount per race, I traded six races and feel I did really well, very happy with the return of £2.07- taking my betfair balance to £35.07, just wish everyday was like this one. Apart from the money I was happy making scratch trades and taking losses, as it allowed me to stay focused on the market and not worrying/panicking/begging/ wishing it would come back to where I got involved.

I know readers may look at my blog and think pfft your only making £... , but I know along as I can keep my discipline and apply the same decision making processes day in day out I know that good times will come.

Goodluck keep it green

Green, but not as planned

Today even though I made over 20% profit on my bank from trading horses, I can't help but feel disappointed with myself, the reason is that half of my profits came from staying in play at the beginning of a race and scalping the market for a few ticks, sounds easy but I know too well that if a horse makes a good start and leads start to finish my lay first technique is going to bust my bank.

As I mentioned yesterday it really is a small amount to aim for on a horse race, so why can't I focus on that and be happy with it.
I will be back on it tomorrow having read nearly all of my book- 'self discipline in ten days;, I recommend it to anyone who occasionally find themselves in the same boat as me, even though I can't say it has affected my judgement yet, but reading the information in it, when its queit and away from the trading environment, it just juumps out at you, there are loads of light bulb type moments while reading it.

Anyway I found it online and here is a link for those interested- self discipline in ten days

Bank now £33.06

Goodluck and keep it green

0.24% That's it

I know people have different opinions about setting targets, but recently I have been aiming for 5% a day, so if I break that figure down by dividing by the 21 horse races in a day and we come down to the number 0.24%, and at the moment that equals about £0.07 per race. I have been averaging a bit more per race, probably more like £0.10 per race, therefore when I have reach my daily target, I stop for the day as it is quite taxing when you have to keep concentration for a long period of time. Just hope I can carry it on once the stakes begin to rise to a good amount, by good amount I mean more than £10, which for me would see me with a few quid to withdraw and a few quid to allow my bank to grow.

I think as time progresses and hopefully my bank increases the daily target will be reduced and hopefully once I get to £200 I will change to 4% a day and increase my bank 2% and withdraw the other 2% as profit, and then once I get to £400 I will change to a 1% increase per day and withdraw 3% and hopefully carry on in the same manner until the end of the year.

Increasing my bank by 1% per day will mean that if I can get to the £200 and £400 bank target levels I will be working with a bank of about £5000 by the end of the year.

Increasing my bank in that way, at the same time I will be reducing my staking levels along the way in the following way-

• Currently at 10% stake
• At £100 I will switch to a flat £10 stake
• At £200 will carry on with a 5%
• Once I get to £500 I will carry on with a £25 stake until £1250
• At £1250 I will carry on with a 2% stake
• At £2500 I will then have a £50 flat stake
• Once we reach this years main goal of £5000 I will carry on at 1% stakes

These figures may all be pie in the sky, if I don't maintain my discipline the I will be back to square one with no bank to trade with, so as long as I stick to my rules and don't go in play I will be OK.

Also these figure relate to horse race trading and other sports will be introduced along the way, I am mainly looking at Football, tennis and cricket.

Aside from the above I did OK on the horses today and ended with a bank of £27.11

Goodluck and keep it green

4000

My blog has now had over 4000 page views in 3 months, not bad eh for a small time blogger like me.

FORGOT TO CANCEL

Today I was trading the horses, making a few pence a race, and I was switching horses and got matched on a previous bet didn't realise and when I came back to the screen I had an extra £2 profit- Happy days, but lesson learn't make sure I check the status of the market before I leave the PC.

Don't for get to check out the quidco banner on the side bar

Good luck

See you next time- keep it green

Another day on the up!

Can't get excited about today and I am sure you would feel the same, but I have taken my small bank to a new high today, we have bust through the £21 barrier.

We are now on £2 stakes and upwards we go.

Apart from trading betting gambling, I have added a quidco button on the side bar, Its a cash back site and they are the best on the web, they are free to join and its a quick and easy way to get some free cash. Check it out if you want to know more.


Goodluck and keep it green

Am I really unemployed

Even though I don't have a full time job, I haven't managed to get into the horses as much as I would of liked this week, as I keep getting called upon to help family move house or drive my brother around while he finds a new car.

Anyway I finally managed some trading today and my bank now stands at £17.05, I will be happy when my bank goes above £20 as I keep on having to wait for the delay because of placing a bet for less than £2 I know its not much but it annoys me.

Until next time- keep it green

Moving forward

I always seem very good at moving forward when my bank is quite small, maintaining discipline following the rules I make for myself, getting out, accepting profit and even taking the losses.
I can't understand when the money increases that I can only do this 99% of the time and I always end up with an in play bet that I know I should of closed but my inner Jekyll and Hyde are fighting each other and I can't control it.

Luckily I know there is answer as I am still reading 'Self discipline in ten days'.

My bank is now over........ wait for it wait for it........£15.

see you next time

Little gain for little effort

Traded a few races over the last couple of days- nothing spectacular by any standard but its another day forward. Current bank size now £13.35 and growing, it shows me that trading is something that is a slow game and takes patience, practice and discipline.

I have stopped making trading my sole focus, and have realised that if I miss a day or a few races,  I think to myself that its OK as I have always got another day to carry on and try again. This has made me feel more relaxed about the whole thing. Rather than trying to rush and keep to a strict percentage growth spreadsheet

Steady growth is the key and couple of steps forward each day will do me, lets see what 2011 holds.

I am not going to posted screen shots of p+l daily any more, for two reasons

1. Its boring to look at my £1 or less profit
2. I will keep it to end of month reports.

Until next time good luck