Happy New Year

Didn't really do any trading today but had a bad day at the office punting and lost quite a lot of money - not a great end to the year but those are the breaks as they say.

Don't know when I'll get to trade again - as mentioned elsewhere my digital box went on the blink the other day so I've no racing at home. Rang them up and bloody NTL or UPC or whatever they call themselves said it will be at least a week before they send anyone out. That's pretty disgraceful really as a service - I'm not expecting someone out on New Years but a week or two?

I wonder will they knock a week or two off my bill? Ha!

Anyhow, I'm busy enough as it is with writing and work etc so if there's a positive, a little break at the New Year will give me time to think, read and reassess some strategies.

Off out tonight to a mate's house and looking forward to it a lot. I even got permission from herself to stay out all night if I wanted but I'm dying with a cold and feel a bit crap!  Who knows, there may be a session going somewhere at 3am!

Happy New Year to all readers and thanks for the comments through the year - here's hoping 2011 brings plenty of cash as the budget has taken a lot off me.

Darts trading

Man, I gotta get into trading on Darts - just watched King V Smith there and the fluctuations were unbelievable with plenty of money available. I know one or two people love trading the darts and I can see why. Not sure how volatile that market was compared with others but I'm going to try it out again soon.

I traded a few positions but wanted to be a net backer of Smith overall so I let some of the bets ride when it came near the end. Netted a lovely €423 for myself which caps off a nice day as I had some decent bets on Big Zeb and Hurricane Fly in the racing too. I obviously won't be adding this towards the trading challenge totals but it wasn't a bad days work!

I've layed Energizing at 1.7 in the next at Kempton to win €150 but it will be a good day now anyway regardless of that outcome.

Leopardstown

Not going mad today but one of my mates is going up and asked me to have a look at the card so I may as well stick them up here for the craic too. Actually going out for a few pints to watch it (can't wait)- will be going up later this week too with the missus:


12.20 – Will be keeping an eye on SO YOUNG just to see how it races but won’t be having a b...et.
12.55 – Tadgh is expected to go well but MARLAY PARK ticks the right boxes for me at an each-way price.
1.25 – I know they have high hopes for Thegreatjohnbrowne but it’s a bit short in price. CHICAGO GREY ran well at Cheltenham so should be able handle this and looks the value bet.
2.00 – He’ll probably be a short enough favourite but MOURAD is the one to beat here. Ran some classy races last season but the only worry is the distance – he normally runs in 2mile 4furling or 2mile 5furlong races. This could be testing at 3mile but hopefully he has the class to see it through.
2.35 – The obvious one is Cooldine from the Willie Mullins yard who likes this ground. However, JONCOL should be a better price as he was poor last time out. The distance was wrong on that occasion so I’m going to forgive him and take a chance.
3.10 – A tricky wide open race. Get your pin out. I’m taking a chance on two each way, Action Master and Slievedaragh, both of which should be double figure prices.
3.40 – Trabajo hasn’t raced before but has a good pedigree. Heard a whisper for Star Neuville although Champagne Agent is the one to beat as Mullins has a great record in these races. Won’t be having a bet in this one

2 screens

I'm pretty pleased with today's profit of €67.98 as I only traded six races from Southwell. Can't wait for the proper racing to get back but I'm not complaining really.



As mentioned, my wife got me a monitor for Christmas and I used it today - really enjoyed it and earned some extra money by getting in early on some races with the extra screen. I still have to set up my desk properly but below is a picture.

The Challenge: to increase my trading bank by 5% each month.

The story so far...

Starting bank: €1,000 (beginning of May 2010)
Bank target for end of December: €2,058.25
Today’s opening bank: €2,154.67
Today’s closing bank: €2,222.65
Today's profit/loss: +€67.98
Today's turnover: €14,023.45

2 screen trading

Haven't updated in a while with the racing off etc - hope you all had a peaceful and happy Christmas.

The missus took my hint anyway and got me a new TV/Monitor for my computer - perfect Christmas gift for me and I'm looking forward to getting my little office set up over the next few days.

Also hoping to go to Leopardstown this week - maybe Thursday where it could be a cracking card.

Happy New Year to one and all. 

The simple things

I'm off out later to have a pint or two and watch the United/Arsenal match. Have to say I'm really looking forward to relaxing - sometimes it's the simple things in life that provide the most pleasure.

I'm not a huge football fan but I like a punt on it now and then and put up a double in the Irish Independent on Saturday:

Tingle Creek - Master Minded
Utd v Arsenal - Both teams to score

Master Minded is in the bag and with Chelsea only drawing at the weekend, this could be a cracking match at the top - so hopefully I get at least one goal from each team.

Regarding the trading on Betfair, I was pleased to make €73 quid today as I was also trying to study some commodities for the Market Spreads competition and wasn't fully involved in all the racing markets. I even managed a clean sweep on the 12 races that I did trade so that feels good.

I've one or two things left to do and then it's out for a pint - hopefully I'll catch most of the match.

Still in the top ten - but a great week needed

Just checked the leaderboard for the market spreads competition that I entered and I'm still in tenth place, having increased my €5,000 trading bank by 78%.

While I'm very pleased with that figure, it's far off the leaders so I'd need an extremely good week if I'm to get back into contention for a prize (this is the last week).

I've a few strategies this week that I'm going to employ that could work but I don't want to gamble either as I'm treating this as a great learning opportunity. Even if I don't finish in the money, I'd still consider it an achievement if I made the top ten as it was all new to me.

Great to have Cheltenham back

Really enjoyed some proper racing again with Cheltenham and it was good to have some top quality cards on offer compared to what we've been getting because of the weather.

It was my first day trading properly in a while but it went extremely well with a profit of €121.16 In fact, I only had one losing trade today and that was just something I was experimenting with in the place market so I'm extremely pleased.

Still no word on how the new tax announced in the budget will affect Betfair but we'll probably know more when the finance bill comes out. Fingers crossed it doesn't insert a spread for traders.

Off out tonight so I won't be trading the evening stuff at Wolves.




The Challenge: to increase my trading bank by 5% each month.

The story so far...

Starting bank: €1,000 (beginning of May 2010)
Bank target for end of December: €2,058.25
Today’s opening bank: €1,960.24
Today’s closing bank: €2,081.40
Today's profit/loss: +€121.16
Today's turnover: €29,154.77

November review & December preview

Forgot to do this at the end of the month but to be honest, there’s not a lot to report as I hardly got to trade much at all in November. As mentioned before, I took a hit of nearly 240 quid through carelessness on one particular day so that has put a big dent in the bank. Here’s how things stand:


November opening bank: €2,143.70
November closing bank: €1960.24
November profit/loss: -€183.46

As mentioned, my target for each month will be 5% of the bank.

5% of November’s closing bank is €98.01. 
 
So the target for the end of the month is to get the overall bank to €2058.25. Despite the weather early this month, I think this is a very achievable target as I have a nice bit of time off over the Christmas and hope to get a good bit of trading done. Normally I head to Leopardstown on St Stephens’ Day but I’m seriously considering staying at home for a good deal of the Leopardstown festival so I can take in some busy meetings in the UK and trade. That said, my mates are already suggesting at least one day out on the lash so I’m sure I’ll be up there at some stage!
 
While I’m pretty disappointed with November, I feel good about December and time away from the project has given me time to think and read more about discipline and strategy. I’ve a bit of work on during this week but all going to plan, I’ll be trading again for Cheltenham on Saturday – fingers crossed this bad weather goes away soon. 
 
On a side note, I see that it has been announced in today’s budget that all online betting in Ireland will be taxed at 1%, including the exchanges. I’m guessing that the bookies will absorb the tax like they do in the shops but how it will work on Betfair remains to be seen. Will the tax be on the net bet (similar to Betfair commission)? Because if they tax both back and lay bets as separate entities, that puts another spread between the prices for traders. Maybe Betfair will somehow absorb it? We’ll wait and see…

Back in the top ten

... but only just.


I mentioned before that I'm taking part in the Market Spreads trading competition. I lost a few grand at the end of November but the recovery in gold has seen me earn about €4000 this week meaning I've creeped back into the top ten in the competition but only just. My staring bank of five grand is now over nine grand but there's still a few up over the 20K mark.

I'm still in contention for a prize though and I'll trade very carefully over the final two weeks or so. I'm still holding a small bit of gold so it would benefit me if it goes up - but I'm going to look at other commodities and diversify a little by buying some and shorting others. By the way, I've realised that I forgot to do a November review so I'll try do that this week.

Weather

Pretty much zero to report lately with the weather the way it is. I have been working away on some other stuff and haven't bothered trying to trade what poor meetings are left. Here's hoping for a pick up soon.