Luck??

[Leroy]

Hi All,
I had my first real crack at pre-race Oz horses yesterday and did really well. I basically viewed the graphs and looked for horses shortening/lengthening in price and followed the trend.
My question is...................... Was I just lucky? Or is this how a lot of people trade?
If I was just lucky, is there any reading material that will help me understand what I should be looking for before placing a trade?
Cheers
Leroy

[The Joker]

Hi All,
I had my first real crack at pre-race Oz horses yesterday and did really well. I basically viewed the graphs and looked for horses shortening/lengthening in price and followed the trend.
My question is...................... Was I just lucky? Or is this how a lot of people trade?
If I was just lucky, is there any reading material that will help me understand what I should be looking for before placing a trade?
Cheers
Leroy

Look for value and look for luck! whats your experience with horses ? are you a complete novice gambling wise or familiar with the concept and perhaps horses and courses? instinct is a funny old thing! Are you based in OZ or just live to an odd internal body clock?

Luck is a wonderful thing but remember when it runs out don't let it ride hedge out and protect your bank that way you will find greater longevity in the game of Betfair life LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done by the way either way just don't let it go to your head mate you WILL have losing days and maybe even months but if you stick at it I think you'll find it rewarding!

Oh and to add you wont find a golden ticket here or anywhere else so keep ur money in ur pocket mate! what you will find is lots of good advice search "free ebook" in the search bar and enjoy!!

Shergar

[nigelbleddfa]

You seem to have been lucky especially if this was your first time. Nevertheless, you seem to have the right general idea. Betfair has had terrible problems during the last few days and it has been a very difficult time to trade as the servers were liable to crash at any time.
Just be careful that you do not become too confident too soon. It's not so much fun when the market moves in the opposite direction to the one you think it will. Be prepared to take small losses rather than to let your bet run out of control and lose you too much of your stake. Take a small loss and then jump back in again, and so on until, hopefully, you are in profit.
It's OK to take three losses of $ 2 if you end up having four wins of $ 2 as well. I hope that this makes sense

[Leroy]

Thanks Guys,
I don't live and breathe horses, but have owned/own a few and have a fair idea of the game. Past the novice stage, but definitely not an expert. I am based in Oz, so pre-race seems to be my only option. Which is fine, cos I love the nags.
I found it hard to hedge out loses, but knew it was the right thing to do, and like I said, at the end of the day it was a winning day.
Am home from work today and will have another crack I think.
Am pretty keen to work out some money management rules today too. What % of bank to place per trade, ticks to aim for, etc, etc.
Cheers

[jibiko]

reading material

[nigelbleddfa]

Am pretty keen to work out some money management rules today too. What % of bank to place per trade, ticks to aim for, etc, etc.
Cheers

As a beginner I would recommend that you start off with about 10% of your bank as a maximum. Do not be misled by videos of trading which use 100% of the bank. These were prepared with a view to selling stuff. You see very few videos of people making losses I would still recommend that you look at every video you can find. Check on youtube and try to find time to watch as many as you can. There is no substitute for actually doing it yourself and you will lose many times before you win consistently. Some full time traders here, with lots of experience, have bad days. Fortunately the guys here are honest enough to admit it and it helps us keep our feet on the ground.

[Leroy]

As a beginner I would recommend that you start off with about 10% of your bank as a maximum. Do not be misled by videos of trading which use 100% of the bank. These were prepared with a view to selling stuff. You see very few videos of people making losses I would still recommend that you look at every video you can find. Check on youtube and try to find time to watch as many as you can. There is no substitute for actually doing it yourself and you will lose many times before you win consistently. Some full time traders here, with lots of experience, have bad days. Fortunately the guys here are honest enough to admit it and it helps us keep our feet on the ground.

Just so I have this right, you mean for a $100 bank, back & lay with $10 stakes? That's about the figure I was looking at.

Yesterday (As it was my first real crack), I used $2 stakes. It was a great way to 'Get a feel for trading'.

[nigelbleddfa]

Just so I have this right, you mean for a $100 bank, back & lay with $10 stakes? That's about the figure I was looking at.

Yesterday (As it was my first real crack), I used $2 stakes. It was a great way to 'Get a feel for trading'.

Yes, if your bank is $100, maximum stake at first should be no more than $ 10. Nobody can possibly tell you how many ticks profit you should aim for and , if they do, they are failing to realise that the market is not a perfectly predictable thing. It's quite possible to see big swings in pre-race trading but there are other cases where prices barely move. You take the market as you find it and exercise your own judgment. It's no big deal that you make three ticks profit where you might have made five, is it ?
If you were happy with $2, stick with it. It's not a race Take your time and have fun as well. The craziest things can happen.

[Scumbag trader]

Stick with £2 stakes for a few weeks imo, then start increasing at a rate you feel comfortable with. If/when you are confident that you can make money and not go in play, you can use your whole bank imo. I use my whole bank, but have 4 more banks in my Australian wallet.

[Leroy]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Really appreciate the responses.
Are there many other Aussie traders on here? Seems very unfair to have all these trading options (Tennis, Cricket, etc); but down here all we can really trade with is the pre-race markets.
Would be great to chat with some fellow Aussies to see how they go about their trading.

BTW - Is there a general rule for how much money should be in the market before trading? I mean, during the week here in Oz there are country race meets that don't really attract a big betting splurge on betfair. Should I steer clear of these? Do most traders have a rule like 'If under $10k matched, don't bother trading?

[neeeel]

I agree with everyones advice of taking it slow to start with. I have taken nearly a year to build up from £2 stakes to £20 stakes, with a few ups and downs on the way. You were right about £2 stakes being a great way to learn, it also teaches you to not care about the losses, a few pence isnt going to hurt you. Then when you get confident you go up to £4 stakes and the losses shouldnt be too much different.

Your question about how much money should be in the market. I am very very wary of markets with less than £100K matched, as you can open a position only for some B**tard to put in £500 and move the market 5 ticks against you. Having said that, markets with less than £100K matched can be traded profitably, but I tend to try and fill gaps, or ask for silly prices and wait for them to get matched

[TheMuntedPunter]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Really appreciate the responses.
Are there many other Aussie traders on here? Seems very unfair to have all these trading options (Tennis, Cricket, etc); but down here all we can really trade with is the pre-race markets.
Would be great to chat with some fellow Aussies to see how they go about their trading.

BTW - Is there a general rule for how much money should be in the market before trading? I mean, during the week here in Oz there are country race meets that don't really attract a big betting splurge on betfair. Should I steer clear of these? Do most traders have a rule like 'If under $10k matched, don't bother trading?

Hi Mate, I'm trading from Australia and I agree it is terrible that we cannot trade sports in play. I'd rather trade sports than pre-race myself.

After spending a few weeks abroad with the luxury of trading in play, I simply can't go back to the frustration of ringing up every time. Too much value is lost and ill discipline in to it from being too lazy to ring up and take wins and losses when you should.

I am moving to Taiwan April 7 and gonna have a crack at trading sports FT with a starting bank of $10K. I've done a lot of homework and feel like I gotta leave Australia and give this a proper go.

[Leroy]

Awesome mate, I wish I could just pack up and leave Oz too!
Some people seem to think that the government will change their tune and allow it soon. I'll just wait I think!
I have been trading pre-race quick successfully, but need to practice a lot more.
Keep in touch mate
Leroy