ARTICLES
TOP TIPS
• Decide if you are a Gambler or a Trader – this may seem obvious;
however, just about every Trader who has screwed-up, admits to having
gambled during the trading process.
• Trading Mentality – Ask yourself, do you have the necessary mental,
social and emotional attributes to be a Trader? It’s not easy and it can be
a lonely existence, there are lots of successful Traders out there. Can you
compete with them? You need also to be emotionally detached from the
event and fully concentrated.
• Learn – Education, education, education, learn, learn, learn, practice,
practice, practice. Nothing new here, but this site has an enormous
amount of expertise including: excellent trading videos, information,
feedback, suggestions and comradeship. Trading is a constant learning
process and on this site you have free access to valuable information.
• Losing Money – Initially, most people will lose, so it’s paramount that you
only trade with money you can afford to lose. I know it’s been said
numerous times before, but if you only trade with money you can afford to
lose and use these Top Tips, then you will deal with the emotive side of
losing much more effectively and you should then be able to progress to
profitable trading.
• Use a Trading Tool - The split-second decisions required for regular
trading can only really be achieved by using a trading package. Bet Trader
Pro is an excellent utility to achieve this.
• Small Stakes – Initially, you are strongly advised to start with small
stakes. This will allow you to make errors and also try out new strategies
without losing significant amounts of money. You can even paper trade to
get a feel for the game.
• Accept Small Losses – Losses are part of the deal. You will not make a
profit with every trade and taking a small loss will often save you large
amounts of money in the long term. Often, accepting small losses is one of
the hardest actions to do. If this is the case with you, go back and look at
Tip number One.
• Exit Strategy – Before you trade, have an exit strategy in mind. Too
many individuals enter a trade without considering an exit strategy. What
will you do if you computer or Internet connection goes down? How many
ticks loss will you accept before you ‘get-out’?
• Take a Profit – A profit is a profit, even a very small one. Profits grow and
“No one ever went broke taking a profit”.
• Never go In-Play – Here, we are dealing with horse racing. Although
Betfair allows you to trade In-Play on all British horse racing markets, there
are occasions when the In-Play doesn’t work (Wolverhampton last week –
for example). Also, its’ a highly specialised field of trading and unless you
have the lightening fast fibre optic access terminals you are strongly
advised against In-Play. Leave this for a later day when you are really
good.
• Hedge – Always hedge any profit or loss. Doing this, will allow you to
regularly assess your trading strategy without the very large swings that
will occur if you don’t hedge.
• Reflect – Reflect on your trading ability and competence to do the job. If
you are not making a profit be honest with yourself and reassess the
situation; are you really adhering to the Top tips.
• Deviation – Many Traders profit by doing the opposite of what the crowd
will do. Overaction, can easily be exploited by deviating from the norm.
• Consider Stats – This will allow you to make a balanced judgement on
how an event may progress. You will then be in a position to perhaps
make a profitable trade.
