Let's Smash this Fucker!


OK. I've served my apprenticeship in this pre-race malarkey and now it's time to win a few shillings. I'm starting to grasp how the markets move and react in certain conditions so now I need to up the stakes and start getting involved!


PS It's my birthday today!




I'm burying myself practically 24 hours a day in watching how markets/selections move and thinking about the reasons that cause these moves and subsequent reactions. I literally plonk myself in front of the PC with a cuppa in the morning and just watch markets move. Then in the evening I do the same, but maybe with a Hoegaarden instead of a brew. Then when I hit the sack I don't spend hours making long, hot, passionate and totally fulfilling love to my wife (even though she's always gagging for it!) ...





.... oh no, I lie there thinking about price moves and graphs and how to win loads of cash!




I've recorded most of the races where I traded today. So it's off to the TFF webinar for a couple of hours followed by a marathon session watching my performance today and seeing what I did well, where I went wrong, and looking for more opportunities.

One more thing ..... judging by Adam Heathcote's progress chart if you can average £3.34 per in your first month of pre-race trading then after 4 months you could be averaging over £100 per day and after 6 months you could be averaging over £200 a day! Let's have it!!
 

15/01

I've been drinking tea and watching endless recordings of my recent trading sessions. It does fry the old brain cells somewhat, but it's good when you start spotting things and learning how to react to certain moves. I suppose it's a bit like the in-running where there's no real substitute for time spent watching thousands of horse races.

My P&L is still looking like a bag of shite as I'm still only on relatively small stakes but I'm moving up another level today, so if all goes well then I should be playing with decent stakes by the end of January.




16/01

Blimey it's freezing out there today!

Tried to get stuck in yesterday but really didn't play that well. However, I did record most of the races and spent a good 4 or 5 hours last night just watching the markets all over again and spotting the opportunities that I missed. In most cases I was just a bit too slow to react and I've also found that I've pretty much abandoned scalping altogether, which is not a good idea. So today I'll be looking to be more decisive and speedy, so we'll see how it goes and I'll report back later this evening ....




17/01

Fuck my old boots it's even colder than yesterday! Traded Lingfield AW and Newbury yesterday and fell into the old trap of trading Newbury the same way I would trade the AW ....WRONG! I find that the markets are completely different, so you have to trade differently!




So it was back to watching my screen recordings for the day to see where I went wrong and work out a way to trade these differernt types of market. I noticed that there seemed to be fewer spikes in the price movements and less movement in general. I also noticed that any moves seemed slower but maybe stronger, in that there were less reversals of any note. So in general the markets at Newbury seemed to be much tighter and stable, which is no surprise really as the racing is much higher quality and therefore the form is more stable.


19/01

How time flies since my post back in February 2012 titled 'I Fucking Hate the Winter!'. As if it wasn't hard enough already this poxxy snow, ice and rain looks set to fuck the racing for the next few days. Two meetings have survived today so we'll have to see if we can pick up some scraps of cash in order to pay the gas and electricity bill!




The good news is that Steve managed to get me a copy of 'Trading in the Zone', and judging by the first 40 pages it's going to be a cracking read and provide some much needed help in changing my psyschology and how I approach trading.

 


13 comments:

  1. Nice post, and happy birthday for yesterday! How did the trading on the pre-race go?

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    1. Cheers! Not too brilliant yesterday or today but only because I made 1 or 2 errors and wasn't quick enough to enter a few positions. Just studying a few recordings of my trading today and will bounce back tomorrow.

      Cheers - Dave.

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  2. Keep at it Dave I am exactly like you but I can only trade on the weekends. So I record the markets while I am at work. Hit the gym after work then watch the markets from 11pm. Not good for my sleep but I have realised that it is all about embedding odd movements into you head until you can see the obvious ones coming from a mile away.

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    1. Hi J

      Yeah I think that you can really pick up quite a bit from recording and then watching the markets. You'll see similar patterns, and although the outcome is not always the same I think that this study helps build a plan of attack, as in whether to scalp, trade between resistance points, look for a reversal, get on a move, etc.

      I've just started reading 'Trading in the Zone' and the guy claims that becoming a better trader is not about knowing more about the markets, it's in fact about improving and/or changing your psychology. Interesting idea, and it has rave reviews, so I'm going to spend today having a read and I'll let you know what I think.

      Cheers - Dave.

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  3. Hi Dave,

    I am halfway through the book and it is a revelation to me. Really feel that I could be on the verge of something that will make a big difference to my trading. I would have finished it tonight, but got distracted by some real ale that a friend brought around, so will finish the book tomorrow!!

    Catch you soon.

    Cheers
    Steve

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    Replies
    1. Hi Steve

      Yeah the book is great. A bit heavy in the middle section but it really makes you think about how you approach trading. I'm about 2/3 through and it really does get the brain cells firing.

      Cheers - Dave.

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  4. Hi Dave, greetings from frozen scandinavia! Randomly stumbeled upon your blog, and would like to complement you for doing this and putting in the work trading wise. I'm also on betfair, but employ a somewhat different approach as I do back value selections pre-market i.e. 1-2 hours before off time when I can get a decent price booked. The majority of these do tumble in price, but I'm leaving money on the table trading out so over time I'm usually ahead letting it run. In my humble opinion, the patterns,trends and scalps do reflect the "correct" prices so I have spend my time doing the handicapping work instead of steam-following, but do recognize both ways can and will work when applied correctly.anyways, best of luck for the week and keep up the good work. Maybe I'll put you on to a few decent horses to at least follow the trading graphs for in the coming week as well. Christian

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    1. Hi Christina

      Yep there's many ways to approach trading. The form study is a valid method and I tend to focus my study on the AW races. However I don't know a thing about certain trainers/owners so I just tend to watch a lot of race replays on the Racing Post website.

      Cheers - Dave.

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    2. ... and that should have been 'Christian'.

      Dave.

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  5. A couple of decent shouts from todays AW at Wolvo: 2.35 8 no mean trick. currently 16-17. on a very decent mark,shrewd connections first runner of the year.expect some movement on the downside before off. then in the following race, the 3.05, 6 Rapid heat lad trades currently at 9.6-9.8, all signals point to movement in that price aswell before off.hurdles form reads well in this company,should not be far off.best of luck. Christian

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    1. Hi Christian

      I didn't see how the first one traded but did notice the late money for Rapid Heat Lad. Was very impressed when it actually won!

      Cheers - Dave.

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  6. Ayr 3.10 today: 6 Rich Lord is currently trading 1h before off at 21-22. Should be taken IMO. does not like haydock, ie last run can be written off, would appreciate todays conditions and looks well enough in on the weights. would doubt this is 20's on the off. best of luck. Christian

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    1. Hi again Christian

      I wasn't monitoring my email yesterday so didn't notice your post. However I did notice that Rich Lord returned 10-1, so presumably traded at around 14-15 or so on BF? Finished second as well, so another cracking selection!

      Cheers - Dave.

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