Monday 28 September 2009

A Huge Step Backwards

My latest month has just closed and it was basically a disaster will a loss of £541.76. What went wrong? Well this month I mixed up my trading with some laying and it didn't go well. Maybe you shouldn't do both, but as I was struggling with the trading side and my 6 month deadline is approaching, I tried laying books at varying times to the off and invariably the books proved very unprofitable as often the winner was backed. I also tried some trend betting / laying on the football, but this too, just added to the losses. Add letting a horse go in play that cost me £128.14 and all in all we have a mess.

So what now? Well. I did say that I would seriously re-evaluate after 6 months, and the signs to be honest are not good. I've made just one profit in 5 months, and although you could say that the first two months were very amateurist, the fact that I have moved from a month four gain into a month five loss is disconcerting. I've tried numerous strategies over the last five months, but only 2, possibly 3 seem to produce a fairly consistent positive return, though these returns are small. Increase the stakes on these? Well it seems an obvious solution, but I'm still unsure if it would produce a livable amount, though I will continue with these strategies this month.

What I do feel I'm lacking at the moment is confidence, because after a few 'bad' trades, I tend to find myself watching the ladders, being pensive about entering, and waiting for a clear signal, but then I generally find that by the time I think I've identified something 'definite', the move is either already over or the race is about to jump. Joys of trading eh?

Anyway, that was then, this is now, so onwards and upwards Ostlers, you have one month left to prove that you can do this. Let the battle commence! - hey, that was positive wasn't it! :-)

2 comments:

  1. 5 months giving money away, hate to say it but you really don't seem to be cut out for trading as you're no further forward than when you started.

    It does take a long time to master trading but you'd at least expect some gains in those five months. I'd call it a day and move on before you waste more time and money on something it doesn't look like you'll ever achieve.

    Not knocking you as it's not the easy road to riches other blogs would have you believe but sometimes it's best to admit defeat.

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  2. What I would say to this is why not just use the bare minimum stakes of £2 whilst you are learning. I have learnt so much in the past couple of months simply using £2 stakes. When I started I blew my £20 bank twice, and what it cost me was just under £40. Hell even if I did it 5 times I would only be looking at £100, no big deal and I would have learnt the same lessons if I had blown thousands.

    I've noticed since spending more time on my mindset and truly accepting risk things have started to get much smoother. If you do decide to give it another go focussing on these areas might help. My blog has some detailed posts of what methods I have been trying if you want to have a look.

    Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck mate, it is a really steep learning curve and I can relate to your frustration going through much of it myself recently.

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