Month 3 Result is in.

For those that are following this blog, may I first of all apologise for the lack of posts. My only excuse is the fact that I have been beavering away looking for the elusive edge. The edge eh, where do you buy 'em from, anyone got any spare (ones that work obviously) because to be a successful trader you must have an edge. Three months in and I am beginning to believe this more and more.
As you can see by my results on the right, Months 1 & 2 were a bit of a nightmare of spells of indiscipline, blind panic, anger, frustration, despair, and many head in hands at the desk moments. Month 3?, well Month 3 shows another loss I'm afraid - a loss of £96.38 which in comparison, is, I believe, a massive step forward (and £37.50 of that was due to letting two trades go in running - I know it shouldn't happen, but two in a month is just a massive improvement on where I was. Great though, that still when I let them go in-play, they still slap me - a great reminder)

So, the difference between last month and my previous two?
Smaller stakes - still concentrating on making a profit rather than a salary
Experimentation - Playing around with different strategies, recording every result, some failing almost immediately and some showing just 60% strike rates, (which is only slightly above a toss of a coin re entry points) and one, which last week recorded a 74% strike rate which is encouraging)
Discipline - Redding and Greening 'almost' every time
Patience - Not trading every race if my current criteria is not met (I only traded 397 races this month as against 606 the previous month)

Future plans? Well, I have decided that I will re-evaluate my position after 6 months, Months 1, 2 and 3 have all shown losses. I'm really hopeful that Month 4 will produce my first positive P&L, but if I continue to lose through to month 6, well..........

Written on my wall at the moment, is something I read on someone else's blog which is inspirational to me right now, and it's this - "You only fail when you give up".

I really hope I don't fail.

Stemming The Bleeding

It's been a while since I last posted (almost a month). The main reason for not posting is that despite my Over and Out post, I have continued to trade without the pressure or embarrassment of posting large losses, (even though I have continued to trade poorly making mistake after mistake and losing quite heavily). Anyway, last week - Week 11 of my return, I managed to turn it round with my first ever profit for the week (albeit a tiny one).

Week 11 - my first ever profit - Wow!, a small light at the end of the tunnel perhaps (or is it just another train heading my way) :-).
The difference? Well it was something that I read in someone else's blog (cheers mind games) that has changed my trading perspective a little. I spent last week trying to just make a profit rather than making a salary. As you may know I started trading with a £1000 bank and always used the whole bank. When this went wrong, I switched to a £500 bank, but that too still allowed me to let potential £450 losses go in-play, so now I am with a £250 bank, not trying to earn / win salary sized amounts, just trying to win something, to prove to myself that I can read some of these markets correctly, and turn a profit. Only when I am doing it consistently and greening / redding every race will I increase the stake to try and make a small living.

What may surprise you is that last week I managed to trade a full week without letting a losing trade go in-play, the first ever week I haven't done it, and the first ever week I have made a profit. Coincidence? I think not. It just took me 10 weeks and a sore forehead to grasp it. Let's hope I can continue for a second week.