My trading was ok with, again, a slow steady profit and only one losing race. Though once again I managed to “rescue” more races from negative positions than positive starts, the first race being an exception.
Going by the first race, which were all positive or scratch trades, I should be doing much better and my best recovery was the losing race, going from -£0.38 to -£0.06.
So I have to ask myself what is it that enables me to recover a position more efficiently than I am able to make consistent, profitable trades. I am guessing that some mental searching is probably required.
Anyway, let’s not go in too deep and say that today I achieved a profit of £0.55 on a back traded £119, giving me a %ROI of 0.46%, better than most recent results.
I have more to write but it is probably better to leave that until I do my July summary in a few days, most of my comments are about my trading ability and where I think I am with the trading mentality at this time, so I will leave that for now.I do have an issue that I don’t seem to be able to overcome and, I believe, it is holding me back somewhat. I do not like to back first and as a result I think that I miss some great opportunities. I have tried to do a bit more recently but feel very uncomfortable for some reason, probably a mental thing again.
So I have a query for any readers who can afford the time to comment about whether you have a preference for backing or laying first and if so why do you have this preference.
I would have thought that a 50/50 split between backing and laying first would have been, how do you describe it, healthy. The last time I actually checked my history on this, my split was 89/11 in favour of laying first.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough and I’d be grateful for any comments.
Cheers
Hi Andy
ReplyDeleteI havent analysed whether I back or lay initially nor if its more weighted to one side or not. I tend to put both a back and a lay bet in initially each side of the market whilst I sit and watch for a while hoping I can capitalise on a move in either direction if there is one.
Keep up the good work
What tick sizes are you trading by the way - about 20p?
You don't seem to be very confident and that seems to be what is holding you back. You don't seem to have increased stakes either. If you are scalping it shouldn't really matter whether you back or lay first?
ReplyDeleteHi Redbrix/Anon
ReplyDeleteI am currently using 35p tick sizes which is why I think I should be doing better. I believe, as anon says, that my confidence is never very high but I think I'm heading in the right direction.
My focus for June initially, and then July, was to limit losses which I am achieving quite well. This has had an adverse effect on my willingness to wait a little longer in the market, which has meant quite a few lost opportunities.
There are many psychological issues for me to overcome yet.
Thank you both for your observations and comment.
Andy
I can understand the laying first mentality as it probably seems to you that only one is running against you, probably a hangover from your previous gambling ?? I made a conscious decision to break out from that a long time ago to avoid the tendancy to let one run when trades went bad. It's a lot easier mentally to red out when the field is red except one against having only one red on your book. Although to be fair you don't seem to have issues redding out so just go where you see opportunities.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth my roi last month was close to 2.5% but I do know another trading who did fine on a 0.6% but for me it leaves little room for error.
I'd agree with the other posters comments about stepping up stakes, can't be much fun taking pennies for a few hours work and it's a whole new ball game when your stakes are higher. Step up gradually by all means but you'll either find it'll give you a real boost to your trading or a kick in the teeth
Hi Anon
ReplyDeleteI think you've hit the nail on the head with increasing the stakes. I find it easy to deal with a £1 or even £2 loss but shortly I want to run at £2.50, and eventually £10, per tick as opposed to my current 35p.
My concern is whether I am mentally prepared to deal with the larger losses that come with larger stakes, despite my longer term trading looking fovourable.
My belief is that with larger stakes I would be quicker to exit on a poor decision than now as the values are larger.
Only trying it will really tell I guess.
Thanks for the comment.
Andy