Mixed Feelings

Today's tick size was £1.

Today I smashed my daily profit for any day I've ever traded. I should feel elated - but I feel slightly awkward. I think I know why. Let's start with a P&L:

Horse Racing: GBP45.40 Total P&L: GBP45.40

Horse Racing Showing 1 - 20 of 20 markets

Market Start time Settled date Profit/loss (£) Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 2m NHF 28-Jun-09 17:25 28-Jun-09 17:34 0.53 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 1m Hcap 28-Jun-09 17:20 28-Jun-09 17:24 -2.12 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 1m3f Mdn Stks 28-Jun-09 17:10 28-Jun-09 17:14 3.80 Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 2m Hcap Chs 28-Jun-09 16:55 28-Jun-09 17:04 -0.37 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 1m2f Mdn Stks 28-Jun-09 16:45 28-Jun-09 16:52 0.57 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 1m Hcap 28-Jun-09 16:35 28-Jun-09 16:39 0.84 Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 3m4f Hcap Chs 28-Jun-09 16:25 28-Jun-09 16:35 0.89 Horse Racing / Curr 28th Jun : 1m4f Grp1 28-Jun-09 16:20 28-Jun-09 16:25 5.96 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 6f Cond Stks 28-Jun-09 16:10 28-Jun-09 16:15 15.74 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 5f Cond Stks 28-Jun-09 16:00 28-Jun-09 16:08 -1.49 Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 2m4f Hcap Hrd 28-Jun-09 15:50 28-Jun-09 15:56 2.56 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 1m6f Hcap 28-Jun-09 15:35 28-Jun-09 15:44 12.61 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 1m2f Hcap 28-Jun-09 15:25 28-Jun-09 15:32 -2.90 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 5f Hcap 28-Jun-09 15:05 28-Jun-09 15:13 1.37 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 5f Hcap 28-Jun-09 14:55 28-Jun-09 15:00 0.98 Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 2m4f Mdn Hrd 28-Jun-09 14:45 28-Jun-09 14:52 3.65 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 1m2f Hcap 28-Jun-09 14:35 28-Jun-09 14:43 1.06 Horse Racing / Wind 28th Jun : 1m Hcap 28-Jun-09 14:25 28-Jun-09 14:29 2.15 Horse Racing / Uttox 28th Jun : 2m Nov Hrd 28-Jun-09 14:15 28-Jun-09 14:23 1.91 Horse Racing / Salis 28th Jun : 7f Mdn Stks 28-Jun-09 14:00 28-Jun-09 14:05 -2.34

Profit and Loss is shown net of commission.

There's a few losses scattered throughout the day as you can see, but at this stage in my trading career I'm fully expecting of that. It seems standard to start the day with a loss, but I made things up very nicely in the next few races which I am quite pleased about. In particular I scalped very well all day.

My biggest concerns were my two biggest wins. Yesterday I decided I would experiment further with in-play betting - but only where the odds were very close to closing my position at the off. I know for a fact that it's very, very likely that over longer races your orders will be filled, but there's always the off chance that your horse will run in to a fence and die of massive brain trauma.

So what am I saying? Well, just look at the sheer size of the wins. I was filled on both occasions within 5 seconds of the off, but seemingly I must have had a bet left over somewhere I didn't know about. During the race my "green" figure kept changing - as soon I noticed this I greened out for massive profits. But I'm concerned that it happened twice. Guess I need to be more careful as it could have easily gone the other way.

I can really feel myself getting better, though. Now when I see someone lump £5k on a relatively low volatility race I don't just go chasing the money - I wait to see if it gets pulled or if money starts to follow. My disicpline is getting better certainly, but it can definitely improve.

The great thing about trading is that it's scalable. I increased my bank by 10% today, so when I next trade I will increase my ticks by 10% also to £1.10. This will compound my winnings (and losses) further - but this is definitely the way forward. Doing things this way means that I have less chance of a heart attack when raising my stakes... just easing in to the bigger money over time.

Back to work tomorrow... but a nice thought to take with me is that the afternoon's trading session scales up to £500 profit at £10 tick size! I'm still a long way off having the balls to do that, but we're on the right track.