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I've now had 54 days trading horses with The Toy and thought I'd share some of the lessons I learned along the way.
I started with a bankroll of £100 and stakes of £5 and enjoyed 5 straight days in profit after trading. This led to an air of (over)confidence. It's absolutely right what people have said on this forum that your mental state affects how well you trade. My new-found confidence caused me to trade 2 races at the same time. Big mistake! The market for the race I wasn't watching at the time went into freefall against my trade. I didn't notice until I had a red figure of over £7!!! Got out quickly and made a little back on the later races, but that was scary.
Lesson no. 1 learned: only trade 1 race at a time. Maybe more experienced traders can do more.
I began by taking what I thought was every opportunity to trade as soon as the ladders opened. If there was a one tick gap in the market, I'd take it. A larger gap and I'd place trades at the top and bottom of the gap. No, no, no. Too often the market moved against my trade and I lost money because I didn't take the time to watch where trading was taking place, which prices people were willing to back and lay. This can give you an idea of the top and bottom of a possible swing in the market. Now I watch the market moves for a while before committing any bets. I'd now rather take my time and miss a few trades than jump in with both feet trying to second guess the market.
I have to say that this mindset was instilled in me after watching a certain "training" video for another bot, where the guy said something like "The most important thing is to have confidence and get your trades in." That's fine if you're a seasoned trader and can quickly read a market. If you're new to the game you need to watch and learn first. Much better results followed.
With small stakes and being a newbie, I've also found that trading the middle horses in a race suits my style better than trading the Favourite, 2nd. Favourite etc. There's enough money in the market to get my bets matched and it doesn't get quite as hectic towards the off, allowing me to trade for longer at a slower pace.
First off I would trade several horses at the same time, but, like betting on multiple races at the same time, it isn't always possible to watch for adverse market moves and react quickly enough in several ladders. Now, I try to find a single horse which looks tradeable and stick with it as long as my trades on it succeed. That way it's a lot easier to keep an eye on the market trends and also to learn to read the markets. Someone on here said that the aim when you first start out isn't to make a profit, it's to learn the game and try not to lose too much. Dead right!
I made the usual newbie mistake of leaving a trade on while the market moved away from it, hoping and waiting that the trend would reverse and my bets get matched. The losses from doing this were always greater than the gains, as the market reversed fewer times than not. If the market goes against your trade, get out as soon as you can. I have identified a few trends where I can be reasonably sure that the market will reverse, but mainly I take a small loss which can easily be made up within a couple of trades. Otherwise I have found myself with losses that take days to recoup, which is totally demoralising.
Finally I've learned you don't have to trade on every race. Some are just impossible to find a trading position. Don't guess. Close the race and move on.
I also diligently keep records of every day's trading. My stats after 54 days are:
Current Profit/Loss: -£9.14
Most lost in a day: £10.18
Highest profit in a day: £5.14
Longest winning run: 5 days (on 2 occasions).
Longest losing run: 5 days (single occasion)
Lowest bank balance: £81.78
Highest bank balance: £112.19
Lessons learned: priceless.
Pretty basic lessons for some on here, I know, but hopefully someone will avoid the same traps when they're starting out. I hope it helps somebody
I started with a bankroll of £100 and stakes of £5 and enjoyed 5 straight days in profit after trading. This led to an air of (over)confidence. It's absolutely right what people have said on this forum that your mental state affects how well you trade. My new-found confidence caused me to trade 2 races at the same time. Big mistake! The market for the race I wasn't watching at the time went into freefall against my trade. I didn't notice until I had a red figure of over £7!!! Got out quickly and made a little back on the later races, but that was scary.
Lesson no. 1 learned: only trade 1 race at a time. Maybe more experienced traders can do more.
I began by taking what I thought was every opportunity to trade as soon as the ladders opened. If there was a one tick gap in the market, I'd take it. A larger gap and I'd place trades at the top and bottom of the gap. No, no, no. Too often the market moved against my trade and I lost money because I didn't take the time to watch where trading was taking place, which prices people were willing to back and lay. This can give you an idea of the top and bottom of a possible swing in the market. Now I watch the market moves for a while before committing any bets. I'd now rather take my time and miss a few trades than jump in with both feet trying to second guess the market.
I have to say that this mindset was instilled in me after watching a certain "training" video for another bot, where the guy said something like "The most important thing is to have confidence and get your trades in." That's fine if you're a seasoned trader and can quickly read a market. If you're new to the game you need to watch and learn first. Much better results followed.
With small stakes and being a newbie, I've also found that trading the middle horses in a race suits my style better than trading the Favourite, 2nd. Favourite etc. There's enough money in the market to get my bets matched and it doesn't get quite as hectic towards the off, allowing me to trade for longer at a slower pace.
First off I would trade several horses at the same time, but, like betting on multiple races at the same time, it isn't always possible to watch for adverse market moves and react quickly enough in several ladders. Now, I try to find a single horse which looks tradeable and stick with it as long as my trades on it succeed. That way it's a lot easier to keep an eye on the market trends and also to learn to read the markets. Someone on here said that the aim when you first start out isn't to make a profit, it's to learn the game and try not to lose too much. Dead right!
I made the usual newbie mistake of leaving a trade on while the market moved away from it, hoping and waiting that the trend would reverse and my bets get matched. The losses from doing this were always greater than the gains, as the market reversed fewer times than not. If the market goes against your trade, get out as soon as you can. I have identified a few trends where I can be reasonably sure that the market will reverse, but mainly I take a small loss which can easily be made up within a couple of trades. Otherwise I have found myself with losses that take days to recoup, which is totally demoralising.
Finally I've learned you don't have to trade on every race. Some are just impossible to find a trading position. Don't guess. Close the race and move on.
I also diligently keep records of every day's trading. My stats after 54 days are:
Current Profit/Loss: -£9.14
Most lost in a day: £10.18
Highest profit in a day: £5.14
Longest winning run: 5 days (on 2 occasions).
Longest losing run: 5 days (single occasion)
Lowest bank balance: £81.78
Highest bank balance: £112.19
Lessons learned: priceless.
Pretty basic lessons for some on here, I know, but hopefully someone will avoid the same traps when they're starting out. I hope it helps somebody
and lost most of my bank playing on the ladders!!, so now I play normal screen and top 3 in betting , horses only, and aim for 10% a day, easy so far, never a scary moment, just never go in play and take a loss on a race if need be, my bank was down to 6 quid , now its 63, only in 10 days so aint as good as some but the curve is UP and thats good enough for me, still would love to see a video of how the real good guys do it tho
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