G'Day Australia

I was up fairly early this morning and had a bit of time to kill so I had a quick look at the Aussie Horse Racing markets. The liquidity in some races is not to bad (about £66,000 matched in this race). It has improved markedly since I last looked about a year ago. Whilst still being a long way short of the English markets there is the potential to take some small profits. Hopefully these markets will continue to develop and reach the level of the Irish Racing.

As you can see from the video This wasn't my best trade ever and I was a bit slow in canceling my order when the big money came to move the market up. However I did react in the right way and still managed to make a profit.

A few things to bear in mind though

1. If you are trading from the UK the response times are slower
2. How do you get pictures to see when the off is?
3. The markets have less liquidity so you should probably use smaller stakes

Thanks Peter

I spent a very worthwhile 1 and a half hours listening to Peter Webb's webcast last night. The talk was very interesting and gave me plenty of ideas of how to improve my trading. I have tried a few tonight and am sure it resulted in a slightly better profit. His enthusiasm for trading is infectious and can only inspire me to improve mine. My only disappointment is that I can't get to London for the course.

Open to Improvement

Had a little dabble in the open market once I saw their was going to be a playoff. I managed to come away with a good profit. The potential of these markets is very big with several of the competitors trading at low odds during the last day. I do think that I need to have a go at these markets not just in majors to help understand these markets. My initial thoughts are about laying odds on as it only takes one bad shot for these to drift significantly.

Did I Do the Right Thing?

I have just put this screenshot from yesterday as this race asked some serious questions of my trading. As you can see I made a nice profit from the race, however I did some things that I think may cost me in the long run. I thought the horse was going to come in a bit so I backed at 4.8. The opposite happened but I was still convinced the horse was going to come in so I backed for another £100 at 5.4. I was then out of my comfort zone as every tick that went against me was costing me about £4. I wanted to get out but froze and part of me still was sure the price was going to come in. Then the price did come in and the move was quite strong so I was able to make a nice profit. However this doesn't always happen and I could have been left with a hefty loss.

After this race I am left with these questions

Is it always good to go with your gut feeling?

At what point do you realise you were wrong and cut your losses?

Would this type of strategy work in the long run?

Is it a good idea to risk more money when the initial trade goes against you?

Only a Game?

The title of this post refers to the name of the horse on this video. However it often feels when trading that you are playing some sort of computer game. Please remember you are not, it is REAL MONEY and if you are losing it is real money you are losing. I remember at times I have forgotten this and this is when I have got sloppy and then lost real money. At the time it didn't matter because I thought I was still in profit. However I soon got into bad habits and this started to eat away at my profits. The worse mistakes being in February (read the post if you want).

As you can see from the video I started off in a good position and made hardly anything in the next 4 mins. Watching the video back is very frustrating but it is always easier in hindsight.

Talking of games I went to a sports quiz on Sunday. I got the racing question "Name the ten UK Race courses with a G in their name?" Answers? See how long it takes you.

Toilet Break

Just thought I would put up this screen shot from yesterday. I thought that this horse was going to steam in so I backed it about 7 mins before the off. However nature was calling rather urgently so I had to leave the room. At this point the horse was trading at about 3.5 so I was already in profit but I was convinced the move was going to continue. So I used the stop loss facility to guarantee a profit and came back a few minutes later to see the price had come down to 3. Perhaps I should leave my screen more often if I had been watching I might have closed out too early.

Just A Steady Trade

Thought I would just put this video up of a fairly normal trade. I have put this up because it was a fairly steady race with not much movement. What pleased me most was that I was able to make a reasonable profit out of the race for little risk. If I can do this on every race then the profits will continue to roll in. I was helped in this race by some spoof money pushing the market down just as my back was taken. I love it when that happens.

I have found it very useful to record my trading as it helps me to analyse my style. Currently I think I have improved my entry into trades but I am probably still a bit greedy and hang on for too long before exiting.

Personally I think videos are great for learning I wish a few of the better traders would put up some videos of their great trades. Although if I was making that much from trading I am not sure I would want to share it with the world.