Keeping focused is paramount when trading Betfair. A few moments of lapsed concentration can be painful.
So as the summer kicks in and temperatures rise, it can be quite distracting… what to do?
Last year I had this problem and was really quite slow to act – this time I should be better off!
Not really ideal is it?!
Today I was a little slow off the mark though…
It was nice to see some proper sun at last, but I found it pretty easy to get distracted. The new office probably played its fair share in catching me off guard though, I haven’t traded here in this weather before. That said, at least I managed to resist the urge to hit the beer garden early… something that’ll become more of a problem over the coming months I’m sure.
Tomorrow…
This morning, I think I’ll focus on finding ways to cool down this room. Little things like this can really make a difference.
Despite the heat today, I managed to stay on track, although I was constantly aware of it. Apart from a couple of very large bets in the mid-afternoon, things were pretty steady. There weren’t any massive single results, but I actually prefer a day like this when it’s a bit stressful. I’m hoping the heat continues, especially since I have my son this weekend!
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Mid-afternoon (Yarmouth 16.55) there were a few large bets flying about, thankfully I only got caught out by it once. It was pretty painful swiping my green and putting me in the red – fortunately, I managed to claw a bit back before the start (see above). You can see from the graph below; it inevitably put the runner’s price into a volatile spasm.
Volatility…
When this kind of volatility strikes (after a large bet) it can leave us as traders questioning what we did wrong… although the answer is nothing. You can’t predict that kind of thing sometimes.
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All you can really do is dust yourself off, get back up and crack on. I was talking to another trader on Skype and they had been caught by the very same spike, having someone else to talk to in these moments of madness is helpful at times. If I didn’t have the option there’s a chance I may of been a little hard on myself. These things happen sometimes.
Accepting it’s a freak occurrence is an asset in my eyes as it allows me to continue without sending me into a poor mindset. When you think about it logically, it’s bound to happen at one point or another anyway. Plus it’s all too easy to forget the time it happened and favoured your position!
Hopefully, tomorrow’s markets won’t see many crazy bets like this (or at least while I have a trade open in the opposite direction).
Article: Horse Racing Trading Strategies
11 thoughts on “Keeping Focused – Sweat-Box Trading”
Very consistent result. Admirable!
I too prefer fewer mistakes to a massive green.
Nice results there Caan. With the summer ahead a fan could be a good idea!
Scott
Definitely! Could make all the difference on days like yesterday
do u always trade the tennis?
No, its something i’ve just started to look at a bit more lately… with Wimb coming up i hope to make a go of it!
Hi Caan. Nice results, im thinking about buying the video pack can you tell me if there will still be updates in the future or is it complete now with the 50 clips?
Regards
Mike
I intend to update and add to it over time sharing everything i possibly can!
I’ve been enjoying your content Caan and do intend to buy your video pack. I’ve watched a few of the videos you have on the site including the outlook video and overall I have to say, great stuff 🙂
This is something I have wanted to do properly for a long time but just like lots of people I have a full time job and only really have time on the weekend to trade the UK horse market. I’m just wondering if that is going to be enough to nail make this work.
I’m also torn between using geeks toy, betangel vps and advanced cymantic trader which is free. I was thinking of using a combination but I’m guessing that will put me into danger of having to pay data feed prices. I was also wondering how the pro’s such as yourself deal with charges which can get really high if you aren’t careful.
If you cover these questions in your video training by all means don’t give anything away but I just thought I would ask.
Hi john, thanks – im glad its of use!
I started like yourself, so its completely possible – you may have to dedicate a lot of you’re spare time to it thought if you’re to really kick on unless you’re happy to take your time that is.
I use AGT as its by far the most customizable and well just the best in my opinion. Data charges would apply if you was using multiple programs yes.
The charges – isn’t a huge amount you can do other than pay them and make even more to cover them 🙂 but thats the joy of it, unlike any other job if you’re willing you can just keep pushing on for a payrise !
Thanks Caan for your input, much appreciated. The reason why I like betangel is the fact that you can highlight the trade range in colour so it gives you clear indication of tight ranges good for scalping. Not sure if you can do that in geeks toy.
I did mention just having the weekends but I forgot the fact that summer months have some evening uk racing. Was looking into american and australian racing too but liquidity I think is pretty low so for a novice like myself I’d probably get eaten alive 🙂
Anyway, Caan thanks for your help –
The less liquid markets arent really worth the time for me as bad as that sounds although you can gain some money from them – its what you want really i suppose. Thanks John.