March; Not Bad For A Part-Time Effort! Results…

Results are in!

After some depressing antics in January and a long hard slog in February its all coming together… Nicely.

Excluding a few blips over the last few days the markets have been an utter joy to trade, long may it continue!!

Be warned… this may turn into a bit of a ramble!….

March Results 2011

How did this month work out?

  • 509 markets traded (Quite a few for a single month I know, part-time anyway).
  • £737.81 total profits.
  • Average race of £1.44. (many US horse races amongst this)

I know what you’re thinking – £1.44 a race, that’s only a cup of coffee or something, and you’re right. But im not particularly bothered… here’s why;

I’m happy with the results as the last couple of weeks show a good increase in returns, race-on-race. If you look at the screen shot above you can see in the UK races I’m making a lot more than the average result would suggest. The bulk of US races (where there is significantly less liquidity) brings the result down. I may knock that on the head soon although it’s all I have to trade some evenings with a full-time job.

The other thing that I keep reminding myself of too is; I have to make an average of £1.44 in a race before I can make an average of £10… ya have to start somewhere, right?

Where’s the improvement come from?

So what’s changed so much to bring on such a flurry of improvement? particularly in the last couple of weeks??

Not much really, my edge has remained the same. I still see the markets the same as is my analysis, I’m constantly looking for new edges but there hasn’t been a huge change there.

However, there has been a profound change in me, my mindset if you will. I’ve been banging on about in previous posts, but it really is a big deal.

As you can see from the last 20 races on the profit and loss, results are a lot more consistent. I’m fast-thinking its far more important to learn how to take less per race, and build on your confidence in yourself and your edge. Building a rock steady belief in what you’re doing works as this happens. Obviously you can’t do that without an edge, but it seems to be the final ingredient I was lacking at points.

The funny thing being; once you start to get to this stage you actually start making more per market anyway without even trying!!!

Take the last race above. I probably put a lot of cash through the grinder but the most I had in at any one time was no more than £100, and by doing that I was far less worried about getting caught out. Meaning I entered and exited  the market a hell of a lot more.

The power of being positive and a belief in what you’re doing should not be underestimated in all walks of life, but particularly in trading. It reminds me of something previous to my trading antics…

Let me tell you a quick story…

During my time in the military, I passed through a period of training. I set out to complete the arduous tests to become ‘para-trained’ and work alongside the parachute regiment.

On completion I was sent away to take part in a basic parachuting course with many others. Some were young ‘trainees’ that would go on to join the main-stream parachute regiment…. these young lads had done the same as I although straight after 26 weeks of basic training for the para’s (they had not yet served in the mainstream Army).

During them 26 weeks life is hard, very hard, they are basically taught day-in and day-out, early morning to late at night that; everyone and everything is crap except them, they are awesome in every way, hard as nails etc.

As you can imagine, after 26 weeks of this every day each individuals belief system has changed significantly. I witnessed this whilst on the course one day in the cook-house (cafeteria if you like) where two of them decided to fall out with each other over something rather trivial. A fight ensued for about 10 whole minutes, you can imagine tables turned, plates smashed bloodied faces, the whole lot! For anyone else eating it was a bit of a nightmare not to get caught amongst it at some stage. The place was annihilated but they were still going at it.

At this point the RAF police arrived and attempted to stop the fight. Although they had not been subjected to such belief systems (the RAF is a hell of a lot softer).. despite their being more police they failed miserably for some time. It was like watching some XBox generation blue-bloods trying to separate a couple of wild animals.

That a rather extreme example of how belief systems can affect us, but it’s exactly the same in trading, if you don’t believe your consistent and profitable in the long-term you wont be. Just like the RAF police (soft as….). Why? because actions mirror beliefs and you’ll do things and get yourself in situations where and inconsistent outcome will occur. Now its a bit of a funny one because if you believe you are to profit from a particular trade you may not, but there’s a inconsistent variable there..  the market, the only way to deal with that is to set your ‘edge’ and incorporate a firm set of rules regarding it.

So in conclusion, what changed? my belief in myself being consistent (mainly), which meant keeping to my own rules. Its a lot more boring trading this way but a lot more profitable too!!

How consistent are you?!

Related: Trading Guidance

One thought on “March; Not Bad For A Part-Time Effort! Results…

  1. I’m currently reading though all Caan’s old posts, which are a very interested read and a lesson on how an amateur trader became a very successful professional trader, endorsed by Betfair. ( I recommend this read to all that want to take trading seriously!). So apologies for the extremely slow reply 🙂

    In this post by Caan, there is a quoted average profit of £1.44 per race, back in 2011. The outlook from Caan to me, seems extremely coy – £1.44 x 40 races per day x 5 days per week = £14,976.00 P.A. – because trading is a tax free job, that’s actually is the equivalent of an £18.5k job…….. As of writing, it is 2020 and that is £23k in today’s money!!!! – Lots and lots of people, have jobs that pay far less than that amount and others have to work far more hours to achieve that figure!!!!

    Caan, I’m sure this post is meaningless to you today, with regards to profits and your current success, however I hope this helps newbies to realize the potential of trading, IMHO i don’t think you need to push yourself to make £20+ race or chase anywhere near that amount to make a very reasonable income…… If you can just get to yje £1.44 amount per race, over time and gaining experience, you will naturally increase your AVERAGE over the long term to £5+ per race, x 40 races per day, over a 5 day week, that is the £52k, as your not paying income tax, that’s the equivalent to a £75k p.a. job!!!!…… FYI, that ‘s roughly about what you would earn if you were the Prime Minster of the UK!!!

    I hope this helps someone to see and understand what is achievable from trading, or even to help someone to stop making mad crazy gambles and to keep accepting those small profits. They all add up extremely quickly!!! You don’t need to go crazy, you don’t need to risk losing your bankroll, for one bigger profit or to stop one little loss – that’s always where and when disaster will strike!

    Caan, thank you so much for keeping all these old posts still available – they are priceless to anyone studying!!!

    All the best,

    Jay.

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