One Tick Wonder

I didn’t have much time today but managed to get a few races in .

Nothing major just some one tick wins with me not being under any real pressure. Some straight forward trading resulting in a very small profit of £0.43.

I haven’t much time to comment on today as I’m dropping Mrs TG into Newquay shortly for a girl’s night out so have a good weekend all.

Cheers

Know What You’re Doing!

I had a bit of a mare today in my final race and wiped out both today and yesterdays profit.

I’d dropped a tick on my first trade and elected to switch the auto offset on to recover this within the next couple of trades. Except I forgot when I started trading again.

Having been used to trading manually, both entry and exit positions, here I am placing my exits manually and then having the offset click in placing the reverse. I got a little confused for a few seconds before I realised what I’d been doing, cancelled all open positions and found myself nearly £4 down somehow.

The best I could do with the time left was to trade back to a £3.26 loss which meant that the earlier, laborious, good run had come to an end and put me back to the beginning of yesterday, closing at a £1.70 loss for the day.

I’m not cut up about it, I know that a lapse in concentration and focus probably aided this mistake. Better to make these errors with the small stakes I use and learn from them now in readiness for the bigger stakes to come.

I’ve got a day off tomorrow, but so has Mrs TG so I’m not sure about trading for the next few days. If I don’t catch you before, have a good weekend.

Cheers

Another Steady Day

Despite the markets attempts to frustrate me early on I was quite pleased with today’s trading. I didn’t break any records again and even incurred a small loss in my 2nd traded race, which at one point was around £1.30 down.

I nearly destroyed my days “work” in the 16:40, finding myself again around £1.30 down, but managed to pull it back for a small profit.

In the final race I managed to lay “Budwiser” at 2.54 and trade out at 2.60, I thought I’d done well only to see it continue right up to 2.80, then fall down to 2.22 and then rise back up to about 2.74, these swings I must learn to catch!

It turned out to be my most profitable race of the day and topped my days profit up to a grand total of £1.70 and keeps me on course for a profitable June.

It’s been suggested that when calculating my return % I should express it as a percentage of the total back stake used. So today’s return, with a total back stake of £266 is 0.63%, I know it needs to be better.

I understand a little more, not nearly enough though, of the kind of mindset needed to trade effectively. I’m afraid my “demons” visited me a few times during the afternoon but, all in all, an ok day.

Cheers

One of my Better Days

I’m not talking about the profit level but more about the method of its achievement.

Last Friday I didn’t trade the afternoon but spent some time reading “Trading in the Zone” and watching the markets. The reading caused me to look at the markets slightly differently, not so much as the enemy, but more as the opportunity to be taken.

After a couple of hours I couldn’t resist the temptation to trade and, taking note of what I’d read and noticed, I traded the 17:20 Musselburgh for a few minutes. To cut a long story short I traded some £550 in those few minutes, some going against and some going for me. In the end I profited by £1.28.

The most noticeable thing to me was my attitude to what was actually going on whilst I traded. There was no sense of alarm when the trade went against me, it was a case of moving on and looking for the next opportunity.

On Saturday I was raring to go for a full afternoon of trading but Mrs TG had other ideas, though I did manage to trade the 16:55 Newmarket for a profit of £0.71. I adopted the methods used Friday and, thankfully, the same mindset and came away quite full of confidence.

I did a bit more reading on Sunday & Monday and made sure I was away early from work today, and rested well, for some trading this afternoon.

By the time I sat down at the PC this afternoon I was brimming with confidence so, to avoid any potentially damaging repercussions from some poor trading, I immediately halved my stake. I am now using £0.50 tick sizes as I feel it puts my bank under no real pressure but, if things go well enough, I will have no real issue in raising the stakes.

So, this afternoon bought, what I feel to be, some extremely good trading although I would like to have done much more. The trades I made were, generally, good decisions and despite some turning against me initially I profited in every race. I usually get at least a couple of scratch and / or losing races.

My turnover, at £423, wasn’t as high as I thought it would have been but turning in a profit of £2.39 gives me the highest % return (0.56%) I’ve had from pure trading for some while.

Although I am not new to trading it is nearly 6 months since I started this current regime and I do believe that I have achieved something this last week or so. I have said many times that my fear of losing tends to rule my mind but I feel this has changed somewhat recently and has made me look more at the opportunities presented.

There is still a little time to go but I am on course for a small profit for June. I would like to think I am beginning to pass that “Don’t Lose Money” stage and maybe over the coming months I can turn in regular profits.

Now, by saying that I’ve probably spoilt any chance of a profitable month, so here’s to tomorrow.

Cheers

No Drivel Today

Just a quick post as I’m a little short of time but managed a small profit of £0.32 today. I found the markets as tough as yesterday but I felt that I traded slightly differently, certainly mentally anyway.

I hope that further reading will help me as I‘ve now landed a copy of “Trading In The Zone” thanks to a generous reader.

I don’t have Friday off this week due to staff holidays so I’m not sure what time I will have tomorrow, or before next Monday / Tuesday but hopefully I will be able to get some trading in.

Cheers

A Pivotal Day?

I lost count of the times I waited, and waited, and waited, to place my entry point, only to place and have the odds shoot against me as someone scooped up 3-6 ticks worth of orders. It seemed at one point that someone was sat behind me waiting for me to place my orders!

I’ve read that many people are finding it tough trading the weeks of big meetings, well, me too! I had a bit of a go yesterday but gave up after a short while, no losses, an 8p profit if I remember right. I just found the markets difficult to read and difficult to get matched outside the money.

Today started off exactly the same but I thought I’d persevere, after all I’d like to make a profit at this one day. I didn’t think it was going particularly well, quite poorly in fact, but at the end of the afternoon I found I’d only lost £0.25 and suffered less losing races than I thought.

At one point, after my third to last race, I was quite down, mentally not financially (at the time) because I’d struggled to just scratch the trade, due to the “money scoopers”, which at one point was £0.57 in profit.

I traded the second to last ok, but without any real conviction, still I managed a profit.

This was a tough mindset to take to what was my last race. However, whilst I was observing the markets my mind said to me “go for it, if it goes against you, don’t worry, just get out and try again”. It’s a very odd thought for me.

So I set about trading my last race and this is how it went…

1) Lay Astrodiva @ 2.94, backed @ 2.86 and redded out for -£0.28

2) Lay Astrodiva @ 2.72, backed @ 2.66 and redded out for -£0.23

So -£0.51 after 2 trades

3) Lay Whispering Gallery @ 2.16, backed at 2.18 and greened for £0.09

4) Lay Whispering Gallery @ 2.12, backed at 2.14 and greened for £0.09

So now still -£0.33 after 4 trades.

As I was watching the Astrodiva ladder something in my mind said “it’s gonna go” so my final trade…

5) Lay Astrodiva @ 2.68, backed @ 2.80 and greened for £0.46

To say I was chuffed would be an understatement and this race went a long way to changing my mental attitude, both for the afternoon and, I hope, for the future, we’ll just have to see!

I hope this drivel hasn't bored you.

Cheers

Analytical Times

Quite often I find myself being too analytical and seem to miss opportunities when they present themselves. I’ve said many times before that I’m a cautious trader and I believe it is a mind over matter problem I have.

Many people have suggested the book “Trading in The Zone” so I guess it is a must to purchase and will get hold of it as soon as possible, I’m hoping it will help me overcome the ghosts that sit in my mind when trading.

So, let’s have a look at some analytical stuff…

This is a picture of the various graphs that are available and what happened whilst I was watching what was going on in the 15:35 Nottingham.

It’s things like this I need to understand. The WOM pressure (lower graph) was down for some time, as you can see from the picture. The 3 circled graph areas on the picture cover roughly the same time period for Eastern Warrior, and I would normally be tempted to back as a couple of indicators said to me this was the current best policy. Despite this the odds continued to rise early on, making me nervous and I didn’t make an entry this time. Unfortunately, whilst writing this I missed Candy Stripe’s refusal to go in the stalls and Eastern Warriors subsequent fall in odds from 3.0 to 2.74. Tradergrays luck again.

Then, while finishing off my notes, I immediately missed the Kinetix opportunity in the 15:50 Newbury, going from 2.06 to 2.26 for the same reason and then reversing back to about 2.10. So I will not be writing notes for my blog as I trade in future!

So today started with a loss in the first race but had none after that and resulted in a turnover of £422 with a profit of £0.66, giving a lowly percentage of 0.15%. I’m really aiming for double the % at least, but it wasn’t a losing day like yesterday!

I have a question, or query rather, for any readers that care to take the time…

In the case of Yarmouth today, where racing was postponed for 30 minutes, what would you guys normally do? I had actually traded for a £0.13 profit in the 14:50 just before announcement was made. I then left it and came back to it at about 15:15 but didn’t do any more trading on the race as there was no money being put through the market. I wondered what you guys did. Subsequent races, although delayed by 30 minutes, seemed to affect other races less so I’m guessing that the normal schedule comes first and if there is time the delayed meetings are traded.

Anyway, I don’t expect to be trading tomorrow so have a good weekend and I’ll catch up next week.

Cheers

Don’t Chase Losses

I’m trying to be more professional with my approach to trading, looking at the longer term picture and not necessarily the current net profit scenario.

This would have worked out reasonably well for yesterday had I not made an error and also gave me an absolutely fantastic lesson too, one I’ve already learnt as I didn’t compound the error further. Let me explain…

A bit disappointed I traded out of the 14:50 Brighton at a loss of £0.73, not too damaging on its own but at the time I didn’t realise that I’d clicked twice in the back column on the ladder interface.

By the time I’d noticed, which was no more than 30 seconds later, then checked the Bet Angel log for what I had done, a further £2.30 had been lost. I immediately traded out to a £3.11 loss and was kicking myself for the mistake. Within seconds the race went in play and on the one click screen I was showing a £3.09 – £3.12 red across the card.

This is when my mind went to work, ok I can lay a selection at £3.12 making a net zero, which selection?, I know towards the end of the race any of the runners that achieve odds greater than 8.0 but less than 15.0, it’s got to be worth a try.

So towards the end of the race here I am with finger poised to lay this selection at 10. This is when my sense took over and I realised what I was doing. I leaned back in my chair and took the £3.09 on the chin and moved on. You’ve already guessed it, the selection went on to win, so instead of a £3.11 loss I’d have been looking at a £28 loss, good decision there then!

So whilst a bit erratic in a couple of races in the main my trading was relatively stable, although I made a loss of £1.32 on the day. The picture shows a £1.12 loss as I’ve included the single race I managed to trade the day before. Just before my boss rang and ruined the afternoons trading with a 90 minute phone call.

I turned over £550 including Tuesday but made a loss of 0.20% or £1.12. Thank god I didn’t turn over that £1,000,000!

I have Thursday and Friday off this week but currently have plans for Friday. So I expect to get a full afternoon trading in on Thursday and then probably won’t be back until next week. I’ll update later anyway.

Cheers

A Weeks Summary

As I’ve still not found a great deal of time to trade, something I must change as soon as possible, I’ve done a small summary for the week. I’ve only managed to trade a few races each day, usually towards the end of the afternoon cards, and this sometimes makes it difficult to write something that may be of interest to you guys.

I seem to have too many interruptions at the moment and, coupled with my erratic working hours, it makes it difficult for me to trade with any decent level of concentration. I’ve said before that I work nights, starting about midnight and finishing about 10:00, and I like to get a few hours sleep before I trade.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been finishing later, as late as midday, and to get adequate sleep before I trade means I’m not getting up before mid afternoon. I also like to spend 30 minutes or so doing my “trading homework” with a cup of tea or coffee before I actually start trading.

A typical example of how I’m affected by lack of rest etc. is Thursday this week, no major loss but a loss all the same. When I’m tired I tend to let the losing trades run a little longer than normal and whilst I can regularly trade to small profits a single poor decision can cost me 2-4 races profit.

By poor decision I mean my indecisiveness in exiting a trade quick enough, though today my speed cost me. I backed Titus Andronicus (16:05 Musselburgh) at 3.00, which momentarily dipped to 2.94 and I traded out at 2.96. I then had a quick glance at the next race, came back to the 16:05 some 30 seconds later to find Titus at 2.74, ah well, such is life.

Anyhow, for the week I’ve managed a net profit of £1.05 on a turnover of £296 which gives me a % return of 0.35%. Now if only I could turnover £1,000,000 per week :-)

Most of you have probably read this already but if you haven’t then you must read Adam Heathcote’s post on entry points, it contains some excellent information for trading. I, for one, will be reading it on a regular basis.

Anyway, whatever you’re doing this weekend, have a good one.

Cheers

Back In The Swing?

Well, for a brief go this afternoon anyway! I managed to catch the latter part of the afternoon card and didn’t break any records either.

I figured that I’m getting better at scratch trading but didn’t really do anything worth getting excited about. I didn’t “recycle” my stake much either as you’ll see from the results.

My trading was cut short by a business colleague phoning me for advice on a job interview and that destroyed my concentration so I packed in after 30 minutes with a profit of £0.95 for the day.

Base Level £10.00 / Ave Per Race £0.31 / Return 3.10%

Turnover today £42 with a profit of 2.26%

Touchwood, I should be back tomorrow.

Cheers