Is anybody out there???
If anybody is interested, I am trading and blogging again.....my new home is
http://amorphous-diary.blogspot.com/
:)
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Two very different days...
Wimbledon Day One Loss £296.94
Wimbledon Day Two Profit £345.01
As you can see, Day One was absolute carnage!!
The very big, and unforgivable mistake, was accidentally leaving an unmatched bet in the system....I was sure I had cancelled it, and got a real shock to find I hadn't!! This cost me £186!
This was just the icing on the cake of a nightmare day....I was having some problems at work requiring my attention , so I left a lot of positions open unmonitored for long periods of time. I was also guilty of trying to trade too many matches simultaneously...in short, I deserved to lose!
Day Two was much better. I started off in the same manner as Day One, before concentrating on several key matches. As soon as I focused in, the profits started to flow.
I guess I was too eager to make money in the early few rounds and paid the price for my impatience!
Hopefully lessons learnt, and I intend to approach tomorrow with a more cautious approach...instead of trading 20 matches badly, try and trade 3 or 4 well! Less can equal more!
Wimbledon Day Two Profit £345.01
As you can see, Day One was absolute carnage!!
The very big, and unforgivable mistake, was accidentally leaving an unmatched bet in the system....I was sure I had cancelled it, and got a real shock to find I hadn't!! This cost me £186!
This was just the icing on the cake of a nightmare day....I was having some problems at work requiring my attention , so I left a lot of positions open unmonitored for long periods of time. I was also guilty of trying to trade too many matches simultaneously...in short, I deserved to lose!
Day Two was much better. I started off in the same manner as Day One, before concentrating on several key matches. As soon as I focused in, the profits started to flow.
I guess I was too eager to make money in the early few rounds and paid the price for my impatience!
Hopefully lessons learnt, and I intend to approach tomorrow with a more cautious approach...instead of trading 20 matches badly, try and trade 3 or 4 well! Less can equal more!
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Wimbledon here we come!!
I went a bit crazy on Friday night, and as a result spent the full day Saturday in bed recovering! (I'm 35 now...its not so easy to recover any more after 'partying' all night!!)
So no trading this weekend for me!
Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and although I never bet on the tournament winner, I'm always asked, so...
Mens Tournament - Winner Nadal
The top 3 in Mens tennis (Nadal, Federer and Djokovic) are light years ahead of the rest, and in my opinion the winner will be one of these 3. I have picked Nadal due to his blistering form, and although grass is not his surface I think he will finally beat Fed in the final.
Home favourite Andy Murray has the potential to do well, but I honestly can't see him getting any further than the quarters!
The big servers should do well on grass, so I will be looking to make money on the likes of Karlovic, Ancic and Roddick particularly in the early rounds.
Womens Tournament - Winner Venus Williams
This is wide open this year, any one of about 8 players has the potential to win this. I think Venus has the experience, the power, the game and more importantly the mental strength which should just about give her the edge.
Finally, would somebody please tell the BBC's Jon Motson that in spanish the double L sound is pronounced 'y'...his pronunciation of David Villa is appalling!
Happy Betting!
So no trading this weekend for me!
Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and although I never bet on the tournament winner, I'm always asked, so...
Mens Tournament - Winner Nadal
The top 3 in Mens tennis (Nadal, Federer and Djokovic) are light years ahead of the rest, and in my opinion the winner will be one of these 3. I have picked Nadal due to his blistering form, and although grass is not his surface I think he will finally beat Fed in the final.
Home favourite Andy Murray has the potential to do well, but I honestly can't see him getting any further than the quarters!
The big servers should do well on grass, so I will be looking to make money on the likes of Karlovic, Ancic and Roddick particularly in the early rounds.
Womens Tournament - Winner Venus Williams
This is wide open this year, any one of about 8 players has the potential to win this. I think Venus has the experience, the power, the game and more importantly the mental strength which should just about give her the edge.
Finally, would somebody please tell the BBC's Jon Motson that in spanish the double L sound is pronounced 'y'...his pronunciation of David Villa is appalling!
Happy Betting!
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Losing my Head!
Daily Profit £0.94
I had a fairly disastrous day trading, and I know the reasons why.
It started last night with some foolish betting on the South American World cup qualifiers, losing me over £50. This meant I started my day in a sub-concious 'chasing' mode, leading to some nightmare tennis trading. When I am in this frame of mind, I don't green out when I know I should, and even worse I hold on to losing positions for too long.
After the first few matches of the day, I was in the red by several hundred pounds, and well out of my comfort zone.
I did the only thing I knew - take a long break, and then into some focused trading to recoup my losses. When I give it my full, undivided attention, I seem to always do well...sadly, I rarely do!
I read a good piece of at Mark Iverson's excellent blog, about the merits of 'building a lead'. Mark used rugby as an example, I think cricket is also a good analogy....take lots of singles, take 4's and 6's when on offer...but above all else, protect your wicket (your bank!).
This is nothing new to me, but some days I get a rush of blood to the head and I forget the absolute basics of successful trading/gambling.
Big weekend of sport coming up, so hopefully I will manage to keep my head screwed on and get some profits in.
Heres a summary of my activities -
Cricket Loss £37.50
Rugby League Profit £19.10
Soccer Loss £53.80
Tennis Profit £73.14
I had a fairly disastrous day trading, and I know the reasons why.
It started last night with some foolish betting on the South American World cup qualifiers, losing me over £50. This meant I started my day in a sub-concious 'chasing' mode, leading to some nightmare tennis trading. When I am in this frame of mind, I don't green out when I know I should, and even worse I hold on to losing positions for too long.
After the first few matches of the day, I was in the red by several hundred pounds, and well out of my comfort zone.
I did the only thing I knew - take a long break, and then into some focused trading to recoup my losses. When I give it my full, undivided attention, I seem to always do well...sadly, I rarely do!
I read a good piece of at Mark Iverson's excellent blog, about the merits of 'building a lead'. Mark used rugby as an example, I think cricket is also a good analogy....take lots of singles, take 4's and 6's when on offer...but above all else, protect your wicket (your bank!).
This is nothing new to me, but some days I get a rush of blood to the head and I forget the absolute basics of successful trading/gambling.
Big weekend of sport coming up, so hopefully I will manage to keep my head screwed on and get some profits in.
Heres a summary of my activities -
Cricket Loss £37.50
Rugby League Profit £19.10
Soccer Loss £53.80
Tennis Profit £73.14
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Storming Back!!
Daily Profit £210.62
Returning after a short break, normal service had been resumed!
Basketball - Profit £105.97
I wish I had discovered the NBA years ago...its without a doubt the best sport for trading.
Due to the nature of the game, the price constantly fluctuates, meaning there are hundreds of trading opportunites per game. I used £500 chunks of cash, taking 1-2 ticks profit/loss per time during the first half when the market is reasonably stable. In a very short time I had got over £100 on both teams, so I went to bed at half time quite happy!
Tennis - Profit £105.84
It's always dodgy trading tennis in the Wimbledon warm up week...the top players tend to treat these as training matches, and any hint of an injury they will retire!! Who can blame them!! This often throws up some strange results!. I always feel there is value in laying the favourites in these tournaments for the above reasons, but I stuck to the tried and tested methods I usually use. I had two big, big losses. Zvonareva and Kuznetsova...but the rest of the day went swimmingly well!!
Football - Loss £0.83
You'll love this one!!
Sweden v Russia - To qualify, Sweden needed a win or a draw, Russia needed a win! I noticed a discrepancy between the 'To Qualify' and 'To Win' markets and decided to arb the positions...Due to the large sums of money required to make it pay (over £1000!) I checked, and rechecked the permutations before putting my money in. In effect, I was going to make £24 if Russia won, £10 if Sweden qualified.
I was smugly watching the game mid way through the second half, thinking it was the easiest cash I had ever made...and the I realised I had forgotten to take the Betfair commision into account! Some frantic calculations followed, and I realised my certain green actually worked out at a small red!! I managed to close out both my positions and took a small loss.
A valuable lesson learned!!
Also today, I had a little nibble at the ODI between England and NZ...match was called off for rain when another 5 minutes would have insured a result. A total F**king joke, its the equivalent of a ref abandoning a football match in the 89th minute because of a waterlogged pitch.
I know the weather can't be helped, but the players, paying fans, TV viewers and betfair punters deserved another few minutes action, and therefore a result.
Returning after a short break, normal service had been resumed!
Basketball - Profit £105.97
I wish I had discovered the NBA years ago...its without a doubt the best sport for trading.
Due to the nature of the game, the price constantly fluctuates, meaning there are hundreds of trading opportunites per game. I used £500 chunks of cash, taking 1-2 ticks profit/loss per time during the first half when the market is reasonably stable. In a very short time I had got over £100 on both teams, so I went to bed at half time quite happy!
Tennis - Profit £105.84
It's always dodgy trading tennis in the Wimbledon warm up week...the top players tend to treat these as training matches, and any hint of an injury they will retire!! Who can blame them!! This often throws up some strange results!. I always feel there is value in laying the favourites in these tournaments for the above reasons, but I stuck to the tried and tested methods I usually use. I had two big, big losses. Zvonareva and Kuznetsova...but the rest of the day went swimmingly well!!
Football - Loss £0.83
You'll love this one!!
Sweden v Russia - To qualify, Sweden needed a win or a draw, Russia needed a win! I noticed a discrepancy between the 'To Qualify' and 'To Win' markets and decided to arb the positions...Due to the large sums of money required to make it pay (over £1000!) I checked, and rechecked the permutations before putting my money in. In effect, I was going to make £24 if Russia won, £10 if Sweden qualified.
I was smugly watching the game mid way through the second half, thinking it was the easiest cash I had ever made...and the I realised I had forgotten to take the Betfair commision into account! Some frantic calculations followed, and I realised my certain green actually worked out at a small red!! I managed to close out both my positions and took a small loss.
A valuable lesson learned!!
Also today, I had a little nibble at the ODI between England and NZ...match was called off for rain when another 5 minutes would have insured a result. A total F**king joke, its the equivalent of a ref abandoning a football match in the 89th minute because of a waterlogged pitch.
I know the weather can't be helped, but the players, paying fans, TV viewers and betfair punters deserved another few minutes action, and therefore a result.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Banishing self-doubt
Daily Profit £57.66
I'll let you into a secret....Every time I have a big losing day like yesterday, I really begin to doubt my trading 'skills'. Even if I have a sequence of ten winning days preceeding it, that losing day always prays on my mind.
The very best traders achieve a zen like state, and always put their bad (or good!) days behind them, and work in the moment. I am along way from achieving this, so instead I trade even more conservatively than normal until I get my confidence back.
The way I do this is, is to trade with 50% stakes...the natural gamblers instinct would be the opposite approach, to try and go for the kill with a big win and recoup their losses!! This must be avoided at all costs.
It was just tennis trading today (surprise, surprise!!), and I ground out a profit painfully slowly, mainly using £10 stakes, although I did up it back to £20 stakes later in the afternoon. Not exactly the most scinitillating of days, but my only goal today was to finish in profit!!
Mission Accomplished!
I'll let you into a secret....Every time I have a big losing day like yesterday, I really begin to doubt my trading 'skills'. Even if I have a sequence of ten winning days preceeding it, that losing day always prays on my mind.
The very best traders achieve a zen like state, and always put their bad (or good!) days behind them, and work in the moment. I am along way from achieving this, so instead I trade even more conservatively than normal until I get my confidence back.
The way I do this is, is to trade with 50% stakes...the natural gamblers instinct would be the opposite approach, to try and go for the kill with a big win and recoup their losses!! This must be avoided at all costs.
It was just tennis trading today (surprise, surprise!!), and I ground out a profit painfully slowly, mainly using £10 stakes, although I did up it back to £20 stakes later in the afternoon. Not exactly the most scinitillating of days, but my only goal today was to finish in profit!!
Mission Accomplished!
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
A step backwards
Daily Loss £78.68
Wheras yesterday, I had the midas touch, today it all went tits up!
My first 3 trades of the day went against me, so I gave up!! A wise man (The Betfair Trader maybe??) once posted that if things aren't going your way, then walk away! I felt my judgement had become clouded , and I was about to enter into the dreaded chasing mode, so rather then jeapordise my trading bank, I called it a day early.
The secret of succesful trading is keeping a calm, focused mind...and being down the best part of £80 is not exactly conducive to this state!
Losing is all part of the game, and although it is not pleasurable, you need to learn to accept the bad with the good. What seperates the winners and losers is how you handle the bad days, so I think I made a good call by quitting early. I shouldn't be too down on myself, I'm still well in profit over the last 48 hours.
Tomorrow is another day, back to basics and see if I can put a small profit back into my bank. I don't think I have ever had 3 losing tennis trades in a row before...so hopefully lightning won't strike twice!!
Wheras yesterday, I had the midas touch, today it all went tits up!
My first 3 trades of the day went against me, so I gave up!! A wise man (The Betfair Trader maybe??) once posted that if things aren't going your way, then walk away! I felt my judgement had become clouded , and I was about to enter into the dreaded chasing mode, so rather then jeapordise my trading bank, I called it a day early.
The secret of succesful trading is keeping a calm, focused mind...and being down the best part of £80 is not exactly conducive to this state!
Losing is all part of the game, and although it is not pleasurable, you need to learn to accept the bad with the good. What seperates the winners and losers is how you handle the bad days, so I think I made a good call by quitting early. I shouldn't be too down on myself, I'm still well in profit over the last 48 hours.
Tomorrow is another day, back to basics and see if I can put a small profit back into my bank. I don't think I have ever had 3 losing tennis trades in a row before...so hopefully lightning won't strike twice!!
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