Do You Struggle With Your Betting Exchange Trading

On a wet and cold afternoon at Haydock, an old professional gambler that I used to know called Pete, looked me in the eye and said Get yer self a method that wins allot son and with that departed into the throng jostling for a position on the stands. To be frank he was stating the obvious wasnt he, I mean dont we all want to get hold of something which wins allot. Apparently not.

Although I am a full time trader, I spend much of my week with a white coat on in the Betting Exchange Traders Research and Development laboratory. I jest regarding the coat of course, but I do spend hours looking at new ideas, and new ways to gain an edge in the market and this is what you should do too as no market ever stand still.

Now my old pro gambler friend had been in more betting battles than most of us have had hot lunches and he traded his way through life like this. Anything under 10/1 was not good enough for him. When a winner came home and Pete was on it, the price was 16/1 or better. Even by looking at Petes face you could tell that with his method we were in feast or famine territory here with the latter prevailing over 90% of the time. The years had aged him and taken their toll, but he would readily tell you about the
triumphs and success stories that had romped home out of the mist and mud at prices up to 33/1 and sometimes above that even.

We all have things which land on our doormat every few days namely bills  - and they are the reason that we all need to work hard and find a way to pay them. Now when I wear my Bet Exchange Traders R & D hat it tells me that if you have a constant trickle of bills which need paying the best way to make your life easy is to have a constant stream of income. So long as the income outstrips the bills, then we can smile. Common sense right?

So when I look at a method, system, idea, edge, call it what you want, the first thing I look for is something which wins allot and offers the possibility of giving me that constant income stream. It never ceases to amaze me the number of methods there are out there which expect you to live on bread and water for 360 days per year and gorge yourself on the fruits of your success the other 5. I cant live like that pure and simple. I want my cake and I want to eat it today.

The way I see it is as follows, imagine that through your Exchange Trading you can assure yourself and your loved ones a daily income.  A constant stream of cash, which is enough to keep you in front and pay your way in life. This would be rather like going to the ATM and withdrawing some money every day. To me this feels very comforting.

Now compare this to Pete who used always joked about needing a Securicor van about once every 3 months to go and collect his money from his bookies. Sounds great as well doesnt it, well it doesnt really, because the rest of the time he was busy burying bills under his carpet; because there were simply no winners in order to pay them. What I am saying is this, get and edge and make sure you get one which brings home the bacon, but make sure you bring that bacon home frequently. Find a system which gives you 10 winners at 2 to 1 rather than one at 20 to 1.

Consider the effect on your emotions of Petes method for a moment. Why do I say this? As a trader your own mental well being and happiness are of paramount importance to your own success. Remember at school how it was always the kids who scored 80 to 90% who were the clever ones, anything less than 50% was a pure flop. Our minds have been conditioned by all this and it starts young. As human beings, concerning success we are used to thinking in those terms, winning means high winning percentages. What to do?  Fear ye not as there is a solution. To my mind why bother to fight they way we have been conditioned if we can use this conditioning to our advantage?

Most traders just could not take a winning percentage of 30% like Petes method; they would be second guessing, changing the rules, crying in their soup and generally behaving irrationally after the first run of losers. The majority of us have not been built to support or withstand long losing runs during systems that give you an edge. We took quickly assume the losing runs forms part of a losing run in a method with no edge and therefore look to change the rules.

And before you start beating yourself up thinking the issue is with you needing a method with a win ratio of above 70% say, one which brings home the bacon day after day, stop right there, such a method is exactly what you need, it makes economic and psychological sense as well. Its the method you need. Besides the wife and the bank manager will like it too.

So whilst I put my white on again and go back into the lab, remember Petes wise words and dont trade like him, dont cause yourself unnecessary pain, give yourself that constant income flow, because  Its all in the percentages you know.

If you would like to talk trading then drop me a line.

This article has been published with permission. You can contact the author by emailing [email protected] if you need any help or have any questions regarding the articles.