Back on track

Hello,

here is an update of my last trades:

Trading tennis:

It is all about taking stop losses, if necessary.

Trading soccer:

I also traded the match Germany (W) v China (W) of the Olympic Games. Betfair shows this match under Olympic Games category, so I could not include this match into the screen shot.

I was concentrated and patient during the last few days. I have to remember, when trading that there is no secret of trading sports on Betfair, you only have to take stop losses, if a match does not develop as predicted.

This month tennis trading was awful, but other sports helped me to stay in profit. That shows, that I 'only' have to be disciplined and patient.

This weekend is another Formula 1 weekend, so I hope I can trade the fastest lap market again. Later this day we have German Bundesliga, so maybe I can trade a soccer match, if there is a good opportunity.

The next weeks will also be very interesting:

2008 US Open starts on Monday. I also will have a look at Northern Ireland Trophy of Snooker. Snooker is a sport, which should suit my style of trading and I want to follow the matches and the odds closely.

Regular season of American Football will start on September and there is also profit possible.

I am really excited about the next few weeks and months and I hope I can apply my strategies on the different sports.

Stats so far:

total profit this month: +€11.45

Alistair, the blogger of Bet Your Live Sports Trading asked about using a chat room to share ideas and strategies when trading. Maybe it is possible to trade a soccer match together with other traders. I think it is a really good idea, because when trading with others you have predictions and information of a match from different people with different opinions and this may help all traders.

That's it for now. All the best with trading!

Cheers, Loocie

Rollercoaster

Hello,

I will give an update of my trades in the last few days:

Trading Tennis

During Olympic Games I had not very much trading activity in tennis. I traded some matches, but this ended not profitable:

Hantuchova v Sugiyama +€0.45
Bammer v Zvonareva +€4.95
V Williams v Li +€3.99
Blake v Gonzalez -€23.56
Li v Safina +€9.05

I also traded the match Paszek v Cetkovska, a first round match at 2008 Western & Southern Financial Masters Women's Open. I applied a free lay, but I did not take the stop loss. I let my loss run. What a stupid mistake! I lost -€37.79, which is more than I can afford to lose. I think I forced a trade and was not patient enough. If I had taken the stop loss I would have lost only 8€.

Trading Handball

During The Olympic Games I watched some sports closely. I think Basketball and Handball are also good sports to trade on. Only liquidity can be a problem. I traded the Handball match Russia v Germany and could make some profit:

I had a liability of only 5€, so it is a nice return on investment. Trading Handball seems to be similar to trading Basketball. Early low odds can give you a very good position to make profit. I will have a look at this issue and try to develop a strategy to make profit in these markets.

Trading Soccer

I traded soccer in the past, but without success. Mostly if I make a loss, I make two mistakes: I do not take a stop loss and/or I force a trade.

I was a little but surprised about my losses when trading soccer in the past, because soccer is the sport I have the most knowledge, even more than in tennis and tennis is the sport I make the most of my profits.

In my analysis of July 2008, I decided to trade soccer only on paper, but I recognized, this is not the same like trading with real money. I did not made the same decisions, when trading on paper.

The new soccer season has started and I could identify good opportunities to make profit:

I did not force a trade and took stop losses, if necessary. That's trading!

Trading MotoGP

Today I watched the MotoGP race in Czech Republic. Generally we can see many actions of overtaking, more than in Formula 1, so the odds are flipping.

My trades:

Not very much profit, but it seems promising. There is a decent profit possible and I will have a look at future races.

Later this day I will have a look at German Bundesliga. Maybe I will update later.

Stats so far:

total loss this month: -€18.98

All the best,

Loocie

I don't like Olympic Games

Hello,

well, I don't like the Olympic Games! There are so many sports, that's fantastic, but in Germany you can not trade them seriously. TV coverage is awful. They are jumping from sport to sport, so you do not know which sport is really live covered and which sport is a replay.

They also show boring sports like shooting or sailing. You can not trade them!

The tennis event at the Olympics is in progress, but there is not very much liquidity in Betfair markets and there isn't a working scoreboard for trading.

I took the time to do some paper trading of soccer. Last weekend German's football season has started with the first round of German Cup. At the moment I am in profit 'on paper' and I will have a look at the first matches of the German Bundesliga Season 2008/2009. I will try some strategies on Match Odds market and Correct Score market.

Actually I can say, the most powerful tool for trading these markets is using a stop loss. I will update my progress on paper next weekend.

Wish you all the best with trading!

Cheers, Loocie

No trading these days

Hello,

there is only one tournament this week and it is a so called 'mug tournament'. Mostly low ranked players participate and motivation seems to be not very high. So yesterday Tommy Haas lost in straight sets against Donald Young 2-6, 4-6. Pre match odds on Haas 1.15

Players are preparing for the Olympic Games, which starts in two days. Olympic tennis tournament starts in 4 days, so no trading these days.

Wish you good luck with trading!

Cheers, Loocie

Trading Tennis and Formula 1

Hello,

actually I am really in a good mood, because my trading works better and better.

The most important rule for me is:

Take a stop loss, if the match does not develop as predicted.

I will explain this on today's tennis trades:

I layed Dushevina 50€@1.5 in the 1st set, when she was leading 5-1 and serving. At this point, the market believes that she would win the 1st set 6-1, so there is only a small odds movement, if she wins the first set. She did and I backed her back @1.46, so I lost only 4 ticks. I took the stop loss and did not wait for Srebotnik to fight back. That was the best decision of the day. She lost her 1st service game in the 2nd set and also lost the match in straight sets 1-6, 2-6.

In the past I would have waited until she loses her service game and maybe I would have lost 15€ or more. Taking a stop loss, is essential.

This week was also another Formula 1 weekend, so I was trading the fastest lap market:

I had a maximum liability of 10€, so this is a very good return on invest.

A good start for August, stats so far:

total profit this month: +€14.66

Cheers, Loocie

Analysis of July 2008

Hello,

after analysing my trades at the beginning of July I decided to do that every month. Here is an overview of my trades in July:

Tennis is my main sport to trade on, so I will make a detailed analysis of this.

Trading Tennis:

number of matches I traded: 28
number of wins: 20
number of losses: 8
scratched trades: 0

number of wins > 3€: 14 
number of losses > 3€: 4

total win: +114.74
total loss: -33.10
total pl: +81.64

average win: +5.75
average loss: -4.14
average pl: +2.92

win rate: 71%
max win: +12.79
max loss: -15.41

The conclusion from the last analysis was to avoid losses greater than 20€. That is something I achieved this month.

At the 9th of July I had a profit/loss in tennis of -€11.71, but I was not feeling bad, because I knew if I would stick to my plan, I would be in profit at the end of the month.

I also reduced the number of matches I entered. I only entered matches, where I was very much confident to make profit. In trading tennis this was my best month, because I was very disciplined.

total profit trading Tennis in July 2008: +€81.64

Trading Formula 1:

I traded two races and wanted to know which markets suits best for my style of trading.

The Fastest Lap market is the one I will concentrate on in future. I do not expect very much profit, because there are mostly only two races per month, but why not trade on a market which suits my style. Even if there is only a small profit possible, I will take the money ;)

total loss trading Formula 1 in July 2008: -€1.06

Trading soccer:

What to say about these 'trades'? Too high stakes when learning to trade a new market. I also traded this market not in the way I wanted to trade soccer.

I wrote in an earlier blog post, that I will trade this market only on paper in the next weeks. I wasted too much money on this market.

total loss trading Soccer in July 2008: -€52.21

Here is an complete overview of July 2008:

Tennis: +81.64
Formula 1: -1.06
Soccer: -52.21
Horse Racing: +0.73

total profit this month: +€29.10

I wrote nothing about the Horse Racing. I tried some functionality of my trading software BettingAssistant and do not want to start trading the horses.

What is the conclusion of all these numbers?

1. Trading tennis works good. A similar result in August 2008 and I would be very happy.
2. Concentrate on Trading Fastest Lap in Formula 1.
3. When learning new markets, trade only on paper, because all money is created equal.

Actually I am looking for other sports to trade on. Mark Iverson started a poll about sports he should concentrate on. Mostly he is trading Cricket, Darts and Rugby Union.

I have no clue how to trade on cricket. The good thing is, you can trade this sport via live ticker, so you need no live pictures. That is the same in trading tennis. I only use protennis live ticker, no live pictures.

When trading darts I think you need live pictures and darts is not televised in Germany. The same with Rugby Union, no pictures in Germany. That is very sad, because this sport is similar to American Football and I like watching and trading NFL games. Sports without market suspension suit my style of trading.

Also trading Snooker is something which could suit my style. The question is: Are live tickers available and are they reliable?

I will watch other markets closely, so maybe I discover some possibilities of making profit in other sports.

Good luck with trading!

Cheers, Loocie

Just a quick update

Hello,

I will give just a quick update. Yesterday I applied a free lay in the match Mirza v Benesova and it worked. I made €5.41 profit and stats for July so far:

total profit this month: €29.10

I will analyse my trades of July in the next few days.

All the best with trading!

Cheers, Loocie