Steady growth

Profit/Loss : 40.76€
Total Profit/Loss : 176.01€
Current Bank : 911.23€

Another weekend, another healthy profit. It's been normal to have a profit of around 40€ per week, that's what happened once again, mostly during the weekend of course. Tried some horse racing but without success and left without losing/winning which isn't bad at all. I don't have the right tools to trade on the horses so I'll try to stay away from those markets while I don't get those tools. Football during the half-time and some inplay seems to be the best markets for me to trade at the moment despite the low profits.

All trades were green once again. This tells me that I'm not making too many mistakes which keeps me happy. However, I shall not trick myself into thinking that I haven't done any mistake, because I did some.

The 900€ barrier is behind me and I'm heading to the 4 digits again at a decent pace. Hope to achieve it during the first month of the new year.

Please note that I've changed the date of the last post because it simply wasn't right. I've started to write it days before publishing it and it came out with the starting date instead of the publishing date.

Mixed Feelings

Profit/Loss : 37.20€
Total Profit/Loss : 135.25€
Current Bank : 870.47€

First of all, sorry for taking so long for an update. That's how I am, lazy!

Let me separate this post in two different parts, last weekend and this weekend. Last weekend I took a loss of -8.86€. I made so many mistakes that I should have been wiped out. It all started on friday night with an NBA match between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons. I always seemed to be on the wrong side and taking constant losses and getting pissed off about it. I had a total accumulated loss on the Pistons of around -60€ and 0€ on the Bulls. The Bulls were in front near the end of the match but were leading by just 4 or 5 points. I told myself that I couldn't afford a loss of -60€ so I took a hard decision of dividing the loss and taking a -16€ guaranteed loss. The Bulls did indeed win the game, very hard to swallow. This trading was in the back of my mind the entire weekend.

Saturday morning trading the horses I decided to buy a horse at 3.40 because I thought it would drift. It was the favourite in the race in question and there was nothing that could tell me that that horse was indeed a favourite for that race so that was why I decided to lay him. Immediately I saw him steaming to 2.80s. Obviously, I should have closed my position much earlier but I did not, I was in love with my position. Exited losing -18.94€.

During the afternoon I've entered in a self-destroying mode. I was watching the Manchester United vs. Derby County game on TV and was surprised to see Derby not conceding a goal for more than 30 minutes so I decided to do some trades on the under/over 3,5 goals market. Guess what happened, Man Utd scored two goals in 5 minutes while I had a position opened. I was very lucky to leave with a -44.84€ loss.

The rest of the weekend I was trading on a mood that is completely unacceptable. I was putting huge chunks ( almost the whole bank ) in some very very risky situations, I felt like I wanted to blow my whole bank in a few seconds, very weird feelings. I don't know how I managed to lose just -8.86€.

I'll have to work hard to get my mind right for trading. If I don't, I'll be wiped out in a couple of months because this is indeed a very tough game.

Ok, let's to move on to this weekend. In constrast with last weekend, this one I haven't missed a single trade, all green. That's something that I can't understand, I'm capable of the best and of the worst.

There's nothing special with these trades. It's the usual thing. A profit of 46.06€. It should be like this every day. :)

Hope you don't make the mistakes I made.

Tough days behind me

Profit/Loss : 34.05€
Total Profit/Loss : 98.05€
Current Bank : 833.27€

Been very busy these days due to professional reasons and haven't had the mind sharp enough to do as many tradings as I'd have wanted but since last update I managed to make a somewhat nice profit.

Lost -5.00€ today on AC Milan vs. Celtic match and ended the day with that loss. I've decided to not trade anymore today because I felt that I wasn't with the required mindset. When this happens it's better to stay away from these markets than to have a huge loss. I believe you agree with me.

It's amazing to notice how I've been cutting my profits lately. I'm picking very small profits because I'm scared of taking a considerable loss so I sneak in and out of the markets as quickly as possible. I get very satisfied to get a tick and this is starting to frustrate me, honestly. There have been several greenbooks that could have been 10x more had I stood by my decisions when I've entered the market. The problem is, if I lose this feeling of fear for a loss and then go and take a considerable loss right on the first attempt, this feeling will double its magnitude and that wouldn't be good. Now I'm experiencing how hard trading is mentally. I think I just have to choose the perfect timing/moment to break this mental barrier. I'll overcome it someway!!

November was a terrible month for me because of a single huge loss of -819.64€ in a football match, therefore, it was impossible to end the month on a green position. Here's the screenshot from my November's P&L.

The 800€ barrier was broken and is now way behind me.

Cheers!

So disappointed

I'm so disappointed to have read on bettingtraders.com forum that Peter Webb's book seems to be a farce.

Profitable Exchange Trading was a much awaited book by all traders in sports markets. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Profitable-Exchange-Trading-Peter-Webb/dp/1843440288/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196117312&sr=1-1
( Amazon's link to Profitable Exchange Trading book )

I was obviously interested in reading his book. I wasn't expecting magic formulas but I was hoping it could trigger some new ideas inside my mind and that would be very helpful indeed.

After having read that topic on bettingtraders I obviously cancelled my order from amazon.co.uk. Let's see if this book will ever be released, I doubt !

My weekend in review

Profit/Loss : 41.11€
Total Profit/Loss : 64€
Current Bank : 799.23€

First of all, allow me to conside Friday night as part of the weekend so that this post doesn't get invalid because of a Friday night trade on a football match. Overall, this weekend was quite good for me, a good profit and the most important, very few mistakes and some perfect trades, technically.

Before the big loss ( see first post ) making 41.11€ a weekend would be a bad result because I could make that in one single trade quite easily. Making 200€ on a weekend wouldn't be a surprise but now things have changed. I'm putting less money into the market and exploiting less ticks as well. In case things go completely wrong or in case I go completely mad I can't lose too much. Something that I have in the back of my mind now is that the number one rule is not to lose money. It may sound obvious but it's not, if you are a trader you will understand me.

I've spent Saturday's afternoon watching football, I guess I watched to 6 or more matches making small profits in almost all of them. Some were done inplay exploiting a single tick with small chunks ( 100€ maximum ) and always when the matches were calm ( half-time included ).

During the morning I was trading ( or trying to ) on horse racing and this was where I made my biggest mistake of the weekend. Having layed a horse at 3.35 and watching it drift to 4.50 in less than 10 minutes I made a nice greenbook of 7.60€ with just a 30€ chunk trade. Quite happy I was but then I decided to mess up things a little bit and lost a tick, then tried to take it back and the race went inplay. I was lucky I managed to get out with a loss of -0.14€. I'm so stupid, it was the only loss I had during the weekend and it could have been a nice profit. Shame on me!

Hoping to break the 800€ barrier very soon!

Ouch !!!

Profit/Loss : -4.92€
Total Profit/Loss : 22.89€
Current Bank : 758.12€

First loss in the NBA trading the Washington Wizards @ Charlotte Bobcats game. I wasn't watching the game on TV this time and that might have been the problem here. I was caught on the wrong side twice on some big swings and that was it. I'm glad the loss ( -4.92€ ) is acceptable because it could have been much worse.

Hope to get back to football during this weekend and to some good profits, hopefully.

Another greenbook

Profit/Loss : 2,43€
Total Profit/Loss : 27,81€
Current Bank : 763.04€

Milwaukee Bucks @ Cleveland Cavaliers was probably the most difficult trade I've made on NBA markets so far. There wasn't much money in the market making it very difficult to get 20€ or 30€ matched. I was in a red position in the beginning but kept my head cool and things turned around in my favor as I knew that a swing could happen soon and it happened, thankfully. I've made a 2.43€ profit in this game.

And now the Cavaliers chart at half-time, the usual swings.

Note that the Cavaliers were traded at 1.10 and lost the game.

I'll make 30€ my standard trading chunk on these markets hereafter to try to achieve a 10€ profit everyday. Let's see how it goes!

Good luck!