Thursday 22 January 2009

Tiny loss.

I must be learning. I'm sure that everyone who trades on betfair has a losing day. I certainly have, but when you learn to take a small loss and don't try and chase losses, then in the long run these small losses will be insignificant. Today was a good example.

I traded a few horse races using small stakes. I've upped my stakes from £2.00 to £3.50 - around 10% of my bank. I'm definately becoming more confident in trading the horses and I'm not slow to take a small loss when the market goes against me. Anyway, I was 30p up on the horses.

I picked out 5 football matches to trade on the under/over 2.5 goals market. I use slightly bigger stakes on this - £10. After backing, I then stagger my lay bets, 2 ticks apart.

This method worked in 4 out of 5 matches, but an early goal in the Kilmarnock v Ayr game left me about £2 in the red. I managed to scalp a few ticks gere and there but the liquidity wasn't the best and the market was very jumpy, taking too long for my liking to gat matched.

I managed to get my loss down to £1.33 in that match and decided to leave it before I did my usual trick of backing just before a goal.

Even though I was £1.33 down in one game, the other games and my winnings from the horses meant I was only down by 13p. A loss of only 0.34%. I'm quite sure a few months ago, I would have tried chasing my loss and would have probably lost more.

Here is my betfair P&L.


Tomorrow is another day. My 3% target is £1.11

2 comments:

Last Chance Trader said...

Hi Chris,

It's good to see you have started a blog like myself (http://sportsbettingforfun.blogspot.com).

I just wanted to know your thoughts on why you are using so small stakes. I understand it is for practice but one of the main issues I have with trading is producing the profits when the figures do mean something.

When there is real money involved your thought process changes and i think only with practice at higher stakes can you start to really learn about trading.

What are your thoughts on this?

Chris said...

Hi Rick,

First of all, Thanks for your comments. I appreciate your feedback.

I can see where you're coming from regarding my small stakes. The main problem I have is my discipline e.g. not taking a small loss and letting my horse racing trades go in-play, and I have been stung once too often.

I started this blog just before New Year and lost my entire bank of £107 on one bad day.

I was advised in a forum to start with a small bank, using small stakes. When I scalp the horses, my stake is 10% of my bank. When I bet on the football, I use slightly bigger stakes.

As my bank increases, so do my stakes and hopefully, my profit.

I've tried using bigger stakes in the past but I was putting a large portion of my bank at risk and ended up losing it.

I'm trying to get into the mindset where the amount I win doesn't matter, whether it's 3% of a £40 bank or 3% of a £4000 bank.

Does this sound like a good idea?

I've had a look at your blog too. I wish you luck in making £10,000 from a £50 bank. You're definately making excellent progress.

Chris.