Road to profit series #1 – 2nd Interview with a profitable trader
This is the second interview with a profitable trader on the Betfair Exchange, the inspritation for this series came from me wondering what profitable traders had in common – something I think you are interested in too, right?
Then I reached out and asked some a few questions to see what information I could glean out of them, which I am sharing with you in this 4 part series.
Why did you start trading?
How long do you spend researching trades?
How many trades do you do a day / week?
What you know know now you wish you knew when you started?
What’s been your biggest realisation on the road to being profitable?
What does your trading day look like?
One thing you couldn’t trade without?
For those that don’t want to watch the video in full the answers to the questions are:
Why did you start trading?
Initially a few years ago but got stopped after a lack of progress. In hindsight i realised that a lot of the things that stopped me were my own mistakes. I started again about a year ago
How long do you spend researching trades?
My trades are a bit more systematic than other peoples so a lot of my trading is based on stats, filters, averages etc. Pre-game research doesnt take much time, maybe a few minutes per game just to check the top players are playing, that both teams have something to play for etc.
How many trades on average do you do a day / week?
On a busy day i will do 6 or 7, this is on the high side but i do have pre-determined entry points so each trade isnt particularly time consuming once the days filtering and research is done. On a quiet day it could be 0, 1 or 2. I used to get frustrated when there was none but learned to accept and resist the urge to find something you wouldnt normally trade. Now i would either take the day off trading altogether, or do some work on my data, listen to podcasts, read blogs etc – basically find other ways to improve rather than simply ‘do more trades’
What do you know now you wish you knew when you started?
How vital the mentality side is. I still cant stress it enough! Patience is probably one of the most underrated characteristics to have
What’s been your biggest realisation on the road to being profitable?
That there are lots of profitable strategies out there but trading them in the right way is much harder. Creating the right mindset and developing yourself mentally will determine whether you become profitable; not whether you have a good filter, reliable instinct for goals etc
What does your trading day look like?
I do a lot of my work early in the morning. I will update my results from the previous day then i will export my filters to my spreadsheets. Some filters i am just recording data from but from those im trading i will create my initial list of games. Ill then do some research on those games and rule out any which im not comfortable with. If the list is still too big i will try to trim it down further. This may be based on times im available to be focused on trading or it could be based on further stats. Some saturdays can get really busy and its definitely a case of quality over quantity so its important not to have too much to trade. After adding all the games to sofascore/flash scores im all set for the day. I dont need to be at my computer to trade, a lot is done on the go and i have reminders set for KO, HT, after a goal etc so i dont even need to keep an eye on each game. Just before my pre-determined entry point i will check in-play stats just to make sure theres no red cards and that what i hoped would be happening is indeed happening (shots on target, dangerous attacks etc). If im happy with that i will enter the trade. Whether the stats just hit the minimum criteria or theres 27 shots on target each with 300 dangerous attacks, my stake is the same, robotic-like. This is an important position to get to. My decision isnt made with any emotion, its decided based purely on figures with bankroll management in mind and is the same even if i just lost 3 trade in a row. After my trade is placed i will then monitor the results if i have to exit the trade or if theres no exit point (such as lay correct score) then i can carry on with my day. I prefer to be routine with how i do things and keep things as simple as possible.
One thing you couldn’t trade without?
Stats software! Being able to create a shortlist every day just based on a few criteria saves hours of time. I export it into a spreadsheet, filter the data and have my trading plan for the day. As the data builds it can be analysed for patterns and tweaked for improved results