Tuesday 27 April 2010
Pull myself together
After my last melodramatic post, things havent really improved. I have now had 5 losing days in a row trading the horses, my worst run for some months. My confidence has been severely dented, and I have now dropped back to smaller stakes to try and regain some of the skills and confidence I had. I have started videoing my trading again, and reviewing it to see if I can figure out where I am going wrong. It may not be a coincidence that it was a week ago that I raised my stakes to £150 liability, and that the bigger potential losses are making me more hesitant and indecisive. I have been feeling the same during trading recently as I did when I first started( when I was using large stakes), confused, angry, upset, baffled, like I am being pushed around by the markets, like every trade goes wrong, so its no wonder my results are similar. I need to remember all the progress and success I have made over the last few months, and pull myself together.
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Hi, nice to see a blog that isn't all sunshine and light. Don't worry, you're only going through what every other trader has before you.
ReplyDeleteA bit of advice, forget raising stakes. I started with £10 and blew a fair few before i managed to build on that. One of the other benefits of growing your bank organically is that the raise in stake size is gradual so as a result you dont have the heart stopping moments thinking about how much money you have as a liability. Once you think like that you are doomed to fail. Have a healthy respcet for the money you are risking but never be afraid of it.
Another point is don't rush. I wouldn't mind wagering you over stake when backing to increase your tick size. the only problem is that when it goes against you you dont have enough in the bank to lay accordingly to recover or minimise the loss thus leading to chasing. I know about that because i did it, just to try to get my bank up to a bigger amount. The trouble is is that it becomes a habit and one that doesn't go away too easily. So start as you mean to go on and dont deviate. Yes making 2 or 3p per tick is a little demorailising but you are still learning so why pay through the nose for your education when you don't need to.
Finally, if you have no other form of income (i admit i dont know your personal circumstances so i may be way out here but i am speaking from personal exeperience)get one. Knowing you have a wage coming in helps massively with your mental state. I went 6 months or so trying to build and learn but the stress got the better of me. So once i had risked all i was prepared to risk i went out and got a job. Didn't want to but it really helped, plus we're coming up to the late night racing so there will be plenty of opprotunities to practice whilst still earning a wage.
Anyway, sorry if i sounded like i was preaching, i could go on and on as i have been where you are and know how frustrating and numerous other emotions it can be but stick with it as i have and you will be fine.
All the best and be positive.
thanks for the comments Anon. I wouldnt say I was rushing it as it has taken me a year to get from £2 stakes to £35 stakes, but it seems like I have hit a stage where the money really starts to mean something for me, and it is something I will have to learn to deal with. You make some good points though.
ReplyDeleteI'd echo anon's comments ,Neil. Build up slowly again til you regain that confidence in what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteI've decided to start a blog today and will be posting up screenshots of all races , if I remember too :) Mainly to give the blog some form of credibility before I start rambling on about my thoughts on trading.
Thanks BT. Tell me ur blog address and I will add it to my blog roll
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil, it's in my profile
ReplyDeletehttp://bettingtraders.blogspot.com/
might have to change the name though as there's some website called betting traders I didn't know about :(
Thought I'd start off by posting screenshots of all the days trading to give it some credibility rather than the odd big win some blogs seem to do. Been a right pain in the ass doing it after each race though. I'll try and get it all in some order when I figure out how to use the blog properly.