Day 1 of Glorious Goodwood is complete and yesterday’s post was almost too accurate when it comes to picking which race to trade.
For me, it was an above-average first day for Goodwood. The Goodwood card provided the majority of profits, with the biggest results coming in the 3:35 and 4:10 races. In fact, those two alone made up 26% of the day’s return.
Yarmouth was the weakest for me although that was to be expected. In several instances, I finished at Yarmouth early on purpose to get the lead into the next Goodwood race.
Further in the Week:
Tomorrow I have a balance to strike. With the kids being off for the school holidays, I’ve decided to skip a chunk of the race card out. The weather’s been great recently and I have to remind myself why I pursued trading for a living sometimes. Fortunately, I’m in a position to make these kinds of calls so it feels good. I’m sure they appreciate it. It’s something I wouldn’t have wanted to do a couple of years back, but there’s more to life than money right?
Tomorrow’s race card looks better in terms of scheduling with a good 15 minutes before each Goodwood race. Just as long as they don’t hang around at Redcar. If you’re trading them all, I’d probably recommend getting prepared early (be careful not to trade until the market is fluid though).
Scheduling Times:
A tip to remember for the week if you’re trading each day is to focus on the scheduled start times. Often we see delays to loading at the start of flat races which can mean overlapping racecards and split liquidity. It’s not ideal between different venues. There’s no real upshot and it can be quite frustrating, we want maximum liquidity in a confined period of time before each race.
Sometimes, you have to wonder if all these racecards and races are actually a good thing for the racing industry. It’s certainly not for trading sometimes!
Expectations…
If I continue to produce similar results as today throughout the week I’ll be more than happy. As I alluded to in the previous post, Goodwood can often be frustrating.
Trading experience has taught me the best approach is not to have enhanced expectations. I nearly always trade worse when I do.
Diary Updates
It’s going to be a busy week made even busier with some additional family time booked in but I will endeavour to update this particular blog post with my own personal thoughts and results.
When you’re new to this game it can often be by confusing when trading conditions adapt, so if nothing else, hopefully, this updated blog post will confirm or deny your thoughts and feelings on the day’s trading.
Be sure to check back for updates!
Wednesday:
Overall this is a winner of a day for me. I only traded half the card as I said above because I spent a chunk of the day on an inflatable obstacle course with the kids (at the local lake). Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good as I managed to inflame a previous injury where I popped a rib in the gym (lifting a week before).
The races I did trade traded as expected with the money coming a little bit later than usual. Not much else to add there really…
Thursday:
Aside from Tuesday, Thursday was the best day of the week for me so far. Smooth and consistent results, as I prefer them (even if it means making a bit less overall). I wish I could say the markets were as smooth as there were a few crazy ones the nearly caught me off balance. Fortunately, I wasn’t on the wrong side of anything nasty with a few big chunks swiping the price for several ticks at a time. It may have caught a few of you out so don’t beat yourself up if it did it’s just part and parcel of the game. If it happens in the final minute or so there’s nothing much you can do about it with little time for the market to revert. Just take it on the chin and move on!
Friday
I was pleasantly surprised with this end to the week. Although matched volumes would down when compared to previous years, I found Friday a pleasure to trade. For me at least, everything just seemed to fall my way.
When record days like this happen, I spend more time reflecting on why that was. It can be difficult as it’s not always clear, although in this instance, I believe the large part of this week’s success was through applying less pressure to myself mentally. An observation of made in the past too.
It’s bizarre how I often find myself winding up at similar conclusions. Your mental state can be a really powerful thing, much like Mark Douglas says in the book – Trading in the Zone.
I’m yet to reflect on this a little further although so I may update with my thoughts more in the coming week.
3 thoughts on “Goodwood Trading Diary for 2021”
Are you able to share your exact profits for some inspiration or is there a reason you don’t?
I have before Sian, but it’s generally not received so well. Plus there are some people I’d rather not upset with them 🙂
How did Thursday go Caan?