Trading Journal – The Start Up After A Long Break
I've been trading horses, pretty much since Betfair opened its doors. I remember the minor publicity around the “exchange for punters” taking off and literally, within weeks, all online betting publications were producing literature on how “to take advantage” of this new phenomona.
You could ask for 20/1 about a favourite and get matched, it would go onto win and inevetiably, you would clean up.
It didn't take long for “Joe Public” to cotton onto this way of trading sporting events, and within a matter of years, the odds where the most accurate you could get about a probablity.
Can you believe, that was nearly 20 years ago?
Moving on to more recent years and I've continued to trade continuously, day in day out, for most of my adult life! (I was 20 when Betfair started!)
However, since August of last year, my wife and I, plus other family members have been engaged in another business venture which has pretty much taken up all of my time. It's involved delivering parcels and properties for which have been bought and sold and suffice to say, all energies have been put toward that.
For the first time in my working life, I had to take a step back from trading and horse racing (that's my speciatlity) and focus on something else.
Anyway, that's all changed and the family business is now taken care of through other people. This has allowed me to take a step back and start to concentrate on what really matters to me, and that is trading horse racing!
Can I make money from my trading after nearly a year off?
This journal/article series will reveal all!
So, as with all things betting/trading, I decided that I need to take my time.
I've done a bit of “paper trading” this week and simply watched the markets, analysed the first shows and dabbled in a bit of “live trading” albeit with no money invested!
I've set up my office to how I like it for trading, as you'll see in the image, below –
This is my first piece of advice for anyone starting out on the trading journey. Set aside a space for you and your technology, have the screens set up (you'll need live markets, Betfair or an Exchange and some kind of visual cue as to what is happening in the event – This is isn't all necessary, for everyone, but it's how I like to trade).
Oh, and a random picture of your duaghter and youself in some artistic shot in the background – only joking, of course 😉
Now, that I've set up my trading office, as to how I like it, It's time to sit down and outline my trading strategy.
This has been highlighted in another article, which you can read here – How I Start My Trading Day
05:30 am – Alarm goes off and it's straight downstairs for a cup of tea. I then spend 30 minutes, in a quiet room, going through the week's racing/football betting. Notepad is used and all of the major races/games of the week are noted.
06:00 am – Shit, shampoo and a shave!
06:30 am – Breakfast (something healthy) and a full-on reading of everything that's happening in the horse racing & football world.
07:00 am – Load up technology, assign various computers to various data and re-check everything is in place.
07:30 am – Go for a swim/gym/exercise and second breakfast
10:00 am – Load up all of the markets that will be of interest and start to analyse “what's what!”
Now, this morning routine can be negated by following various services, but it's something, I love to do, no matter what!
My last job, this week, was to sign up again to my favourite trading software and re-establish myself with their interface.
The paper trading I'd practiced with would now have to be used properely and profits needed to be made, as I justified spending all afternoon in my office!
Next week, I'll be looking at how I set up my new trading account, any switch overs needed for my office set-up and how I fared in making some money!
