First off, apologies for the recent silence on the blog. I’ve been away, but rest assured, I’ll respond to emails shortly.
Reflecting on last month’s posts about my frustrations with moving and broadband issues, there have been additional complications. I must admit, I’ve been a bit of a hypocrite. Despite consistently offering sound advice on trading practices and emotional preparedness, I failed to heed my own advice earlier this month and broke my own golden rules. It’s embarrassing to admit, but as I’ve committed to complete transparency since I started blogging, I believe it’s important to share both highs and lows.
Finally, after three hours and five phone calls to BT, my new connection was installed. Eager to make up for lost time, I jumped in feet first—a decision I soon regretted. Coupled with ongoing personal challenges, I really shouldn’t have been trading at all. As per the mnemonic HALT, if you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, you shouldn’t trade. Yet, I ignored this, leading to irrational behaviour and losses.
What happened? With only about 40% of my focus truly on trading, I managed okay in the first couple of races. However, the losses soon followed: a £106 loss which I managed to recover, only to then suffer a more significant £576 loss. My judgment clouded by stress, I continued trading and made a critical error in the 3:30 race by placing too large stakes. For the first time in years, I didn’t hedge—a risky move that could have had severe repercussions.
After this, I took a necessary break, visiting a friend for over ten days. My confidence has taken a hit, and with the month ending soon and the significant losses incurred, February might end in the red, putting my £100k annual target in jeopardy. It’s going to be a tight race to the finish.
Moving forward, I plan to start slow and set no expectations. This approach is crucial in recovering from setbacks. I’ll resume more frequent posts, so you can follow my journey back from this setback. After all, we’re all human, and mistakes happen!
Related: Betfair Traders Beginners School – Ultimate Resource
13 thoughts on “Peaks and Pitfalls of Being a Trader, BLACK February…”
Caan, your honesty is commendable. It’s easy to post about profits, but very few blogges would have the guts to post about a heavy loss like you have. And your mistake is something we can all learn from.
At least March is just around the corner… a chance to get stuck into better quality racing markets and kick on. Chin up, I still think you’ll make your £100k challenge.
Yes I agree!
Do it!
Damn! It made me sick just reading about it.
I think that you’re very brave writing a blog post about it and it is definitely the first step to not making the same mistake again.
You should decrease your stakes and don’t start chasing losses, to ‘catch up’ on the months result. Trade some lower stakes, gain some confidence again and work your way back up.
All the best!
Takes guts to share the big mistakes. Hats off to you.
Like
Very refreshing to see a trader blogging about losses as well. Just shows that it can happen to anyone regardless of experience. I’m sure you’ll bounce back quickly Caan
Holy sh…t!
I very sorry the big fails but You know:we are humans… and the only people who make a mistake are working.
Please follow the shering Your good or bad news because lots of help to people who want to go in the “easy”treader life.
Good luck to future and dont drinking to mutch! 😉
Be mindful Caan, forget the challenge and just BE. The cash will roll back in and you will probably make £200,000 instead!
Hi Caan,
I guess you couldn’t reduce the loss with your stakes even if that horse Bridie Ffrench was trading in-play at 50.0… Good luck with the challenge! Still plenty of time.
caan What do you think about PC2 and what you do not like to enter / get in?
Hey Miki, the PC2 (60%) worries me a little although with ladbrokes competition this year hopefully that will change. Im not sure what you mean about not liking?
I badlly written 😉 how to ladbrokes can help change pc2 (60%) ? regards
They have bought BETDAQ exchange and are looking like possible competition for the future for Betfair… in which case they may have to make rates more competative