Traders Rules

[jamiedavies02]

Morning folks,

Im relatively new to trading having downloaded the toy a few days ago. Having read various forums it seems that having a set of rules is pivotal to trading profit. After playing around with small stakes for the last few days and having limited success before having my fingers burned, i have come up with the following rules to go to war with:

1. Target profit is 1.5% of bank per day. (Slow and seady wins the race)

2.Identify only 1 horse per race. (No need to run before i can walk)

3. Use the graphs to identify a specific patern in a horses price

4. Back (with a view to lay) only to begin with to limit liabilities

5. Exit point is 3 ticks difference to entry point. (Even if that means a small loss- its better than losing my whole stake)

6. Exit 60 seconds before the off no matter what.

Anybody care to comment or share their own rules?

[Scumbag trader]

In my opinion, having a set of rules like this is the wrong way to go about the markets. Each market is different, and you have to be able to adapt for different conditions. Having rules like this sort of restricts your adaptability.

Good luck

[Caan Berry]

itto i'd agree with ST rules just restrict you, for example only backing first your gonna be in for a long boring stint.

[poklius]

Just a few from my experience:

1. Do not trade drunk, high or in/near party
2. Do not trade pissed off
3. Do not trade while eating, on phone, reading newspaper...
4. Do not leave open orders while taking a pee
5. Do not spill coffee, tea on computer while trading (computers don't like that)
6. Do not try to control or predict markets
7. Concentrate, take losses.

[jamiedavies02]

thanks for the reply and i've taken it all onboard. Is there any advice (rather than just strict rules) that anyone give me then tohelp me get going?

[nigelbleddfa]

(i) be prepared to lose,

(ii) don't lose too much,

(iii) don't be greedy and increase stakes before you are really ready,

(iv) do not place much reliance on graphs ( my personal view is that they are totally worthless). It is far more important to become disciplined and take small losses without worrying about them than trying to guess where the market may, or may not, go by looking at where it has been.

(v) all the advice given by Poklius above.

[Caan Berry]

Best bit of advice your likely to ever get is read 'trading in the zone' it helped me no end

[bazbaz]

1) Don't allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong

2) Don't allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong

[kawasaki]

my fav one is: dont trust anyone and try to do exactly opposite as everyone suggests . well, okay, drunk part leave as is, dont try this

[neeeel]

1. Target profit is 1.5% of bank per day. (Slow and seady wins the race)

while it might be nice to have a target to aim towards,setting daily targets can be a problem. What happens if u miss ur target? what happens if you miss your target 5 days in a row? What if you hit your target after 3 races? What if you have 2 races to go , and need 10 ticks to hit your target?


2.Identify only 1 horse per race. (No need to run before i can walk)
good idea to start with, but you still need to be aware of what the other horses are doing

3. Use the graphs to identify a specific patern in a horses price
graphs can help,but no-one can really predict what a market is going to do,so dont get too in love with ur position just because " but the graph was saying xxxxxx"

4. Back (with a view to lay) only to begin with to limit liabilities
If you are trading, then it shouldnt matter which way round you do it, backing, then laying 3 ticks lower, is going to have the same net result as laying, then backing 3 ticks higher.You do need a bigger bank to lay the same amount at a given price,but maybe you shouldnt be using your whole bank on a trade anyway.

5. Exit point is 3 ticks difference to entry point. (Even if that means a small loss- its better than losing my whole stake)
Having an idea about your exit point is a good idea, but you cant just say "3 ticks" without some reason. If you have a trade that is in profit 70% of the time,for a profit of 1 tick, and u decide to close out if it goes 3 ticks against u , then 70% of the time u make 1 tick = + 0.7 ticks, and 30% of the time u lose 3 ticks = -0.9 ticks, then overall you are losing -0.2 ticks per trade.

6. Exit 60 seconds before the off no matter what.
This is good. The last 60 seconds can get pretty hectic, and if you can get into the habit of having all your trades closed by the official off time, then you will be never tempted to let a trade go in play, which is one of the main downfalls for noobie traders. You will also not be trading too close to the off and get caught by the race going in play.

Anybody care to comment or share their own rules?

[TRADER68]

Find a balance with your day to day life and the time you spend trading.At times i would jump in any time i had a spare 20 mins.This leads to mistakes as your not prepared.
Keep stakes low and experiment a bit,Better spotting mistakes while it costs little.
What works for small stakes wont always work for bigger stakes.This can put more pressure on the disipline as you may have a lower strike rate to enable you to move forward.Winning with small stakes can be misleading.Get used to taking losses before increasing.
Find the timeframe that fits your trading.
Take a note of mistakes and you learn from them.
If you have days you find things wont go right as everyone does take a break.
Best of luck to you.

[Temujin]

Was going to write a book on trading, giving all the tips and advice to become successful.

But I got stuck after 1 line, as this covers EVERYTHING.


WAIT FOR THE OPPORTUNITY.

Simple as that. Wait for it, when it happens, trade it. To trade out, WAIT FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. This will maximise all trades. You won't overtrade, trade pissed off, drunk, or whatever. Profit doesn't matter, losses aren't important, you have traded the opportunity.
If every trade you ever make, you follow this rule, you will do a hell of a lot better than others that don't.....
I feel this 1 rule encompasses everything I have ever encountered, and when I am going through a rough patch, this is exactly what I tell myself, over and over and over again.

I guess I could fill the rest of the book with small talk?
Nah who cares. Now you all know the secret to riches anyway.

[Todoroff]

Was going to write a book on trading, giving all the tips and advice to become successful.

But I got stuck after 1 line, as this covers EVERYTHING.


WAIT FOR THE OPPORTUNITY.

Simple as that. Wait for it, when it happens, trade it. To trade out, WAIT FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. This will maximise all trades. You won't overtrade, trade pissed off, drunk, or whatever. Profit doesn't matter, losses aren't important, you have traded the opportunity.
If every trade you ever make, you follow this rule, you will do a hell of a lot better than others that don't.....
I feel this 1 rule encompasses everything I have ever encountered, and when I am going through a rough patch, this is exactly what I tell myself, over and over and over again.

I guess I could fill the rest of the book with small talk?
Nah who cares. Now you all know the secret to riches anyway.

I absolutely agree. Patience and discipline...

THE MARKET PAYS YOU TO BE DISCIPLINED.

[RobinHood]

# Watch the market
# Be ready to start trading as soon as the right opportunity arrives
# Be confident
# Green up when the trend is slowing down
# Don't leave unmatched bets
# Keep focused on trading
# Get out of the market if less than 10 seconds are left before the off (this applies to greyhound markets for)

But basically, as Temujin said, be patient - if you know what to look for in the market then you just need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to make the move and profit.

[Caan Berry]

Had a little think about this one after reading the start of the post, here are a few i think are specific...
1. Enter ever y market as if its the first with an open mind regardless of the last market
2. Observe the market information abailable for a minute or two first
3. Start off with smaller tester stakes
4. Set some expected boundries in your mind although follow them loosely
5. Try not to anticipate the market too much
6. Build your way into a good position upping stakes gradually
7. Scratch losses while they are small quickly

Only trade whats infront of you!