Stakes vs. Profits

[christof21]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of trying to set myself achievable daily goals for my trading and my present long term

target is to win back all of my BF losses in a reasonable timescale.

I'm a fairly new trader and have no contact with other traders except via the TT forum.

What I would like to ask is what other members consider to be reasonable daily profits in relation to stakes

submitted.

Eg., at present I'm still using the minimum £2 stakes, so if I complete a days trading and realise a £2 profit,

ie. 100% (forgetting any commission or other BF charges), would that be a reasonable result?

At present, I only trade the horses.

I tend to find that during a full days trading, once I settle in I do ok for 2 or 3 hours and then start to make

silly mistakes and lose some or all of my profits. Obviously I'm entiring the tiredness/diminishing

concentration zone and should call it a day earlier.

I would welcome any feedback on this and if it's been covered previously on the forum, please point me to it.

This is almost like reading about me Crazeewon Not sure how long you've been a it, bt I started in Jan this year. I mentioned in my thread that today, I've realised that I've gone completely off my initial trade plan, and it's caused me no end of mental turmoil, and bad trades, and the feeling of being lost.

It nice to know that there is someone on here at the same time as me, that sounds like they are pretty much in exactly the same position as me. It'd be nice to keep in touch, and help each other stay focused and motivated.

[1/4 of a millionaire fund]

Aim for 1% return from your matched bets, get half of that and you're doing well, trading just isn't a high return game so you'll need to turn over volume to make it pay.

[Crazeewon]

Thanks for all of your replies. I realise that profits/losses over say, a month are more meaningful than just

one day, it's just that I wondered if I was expecting too much return out of so small a stake.

Seems like I'm not doing too badly then cos I regularly make £3 or so per day (except for those sheet days

when everything goes ass over teets )

[neeeel]

I didnt really set targets for a day, I was happy to get profit at first, but I felt that when using £10 stakes, £3 for a day was a good return ( totally subjective I know, some people might think that is quite low). So when I moved up to £20 stakes, I was happy to get £6. Recently I seemed to have improved somewhat and am getting over £6 quite often now, so I have upped my "good day" to £10 for £20 stakes. Don't get downhearted if you don't hit your target, just be happy for having any sort of profit

[1/4 of a millionaire fund]

Agree with JS, stake size means nothing as most traders will do more than one trade per market. Your stake size should just be used as a percentage of your bank to ensure you don't expose too much of the bank at one time.

Look at your ROI over a period of at least a week rather than one day and that'll give you an indication of how well you're doing. Some days the opportunities are there others they're not so turnover will vary and whilst you may get a few 5%'s on a weak monday for a few quid, you may find you can pile into one on a liquid saturday for a 1% return which will bring a lot more.

Just keep trying to do your best race by race and when you are tired, stop. No need for targets. Just try to minimise your losses. Be prepared to have lots of small losses which, hopefully, will be covered by just a few more small wins. Get "in and out quickly". If your initial bet doesn't look to have been particularly good, get out and start again. Never be afraid to take losses. Just try to make sure that they are not big. And, of course, never let a bet go in play.
A couple of months ago I had a day when it seemed that I could do nothing right. I didn't lose much but the markets always seemed to go against me. The day was a freak and one of the more experienced traders on this forum had a bad day too. It seemed that the really big traders were making the markets move about as they wished simply to confuse the little kids like me. So, if things go wrong, it's not always your fault.
Keep using the £2 stakes. If you find yourself in profit in a race, depending on the time left before it is due off, either take that profit or have another go. Try not to lose. Once you are happy with that particular race, small win or small loss, jump out and move on to the next one. We have so many race meetings these days that you never have to wait long for a new market.
Slowly your confidence will grow. Being able to readily accept small losses is vital. Never be in a position where you are hoping that the market will turn in your favour to get you out of a hole.

[J.S.]

It's tough to put a figure on it as one trader might put through several trades per market compared to another who might put only a couple, but in general if you can make your unit stake in about 15-20 markets then you're doing well, particularly if it involves evenly sized wins and losses (i.e. 10p-20p per market).

ROI is the best way to analyse your efficiency, if you're close to 1% your doing well.

Another way is % of bank increase, hitting 10% increase is also a good sign.

As ever though try to think longterm, working out averages over long periods is the best way to see how well you are doing, rather than basing too much emphasis on one day, or worse still one market!

[nosferatu]

I reckon that if you can make a profit equal to your stake most days then you're doing pretty well. I use a stake of 10% of bank and aim for a profit of 3% of bank, which is usually do-able. On the odd occasion that I make 10%, I see that as a really good day. It doesn't happen very often

[Crazeewon]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of trying to set myself achievable daily goals for my trading and my present long term

target is to win back all of my BF losses in a reasonable timescale.

I'm a fairly new trader and have no contact with other traders except via the TT forum.

What I would like to ask is what other members consider to be reasonable daily profits in relation to stakes

submitted.

Eg., at present I'm still using the minimum £2 stakes, so if I complete a days trading and realise a £2 profit,

ie. 100% (forgetting any commission or other BF charges), would that be a reasonable result?

At present, I only trade the horses.

I tend to find that during a full days trading, once I settle in I do ok for 2 or 3 hours and then start to make

silly mistakes and lose some or all of my profits. Obviously I'm entiring the tiredness/diminishing

concentration zone and should call it a day earlier.

I would welcome any feedback on this and if it's been covered previously on the forum, please point me to it.