Your trading environment

Trading is often about how to take the appropriate risk without exposing yourself to very human flaws.
Post Reply
Korattt
Posts: 2405
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:46 pm

Here I am lying in bed this morning thinking why I haven't been successful over the past year.

Had to pull out of the office I was hiring because of various distractions.. noisy adjoining rooms, false fire alarms that sort of thing that has put me right off the idea of hiring out another office.

So, I terminated the contract at the earliest, pulled out my gear & set up camp in our spare room, tried to trade yesterday but just couldn't concentrate, felt so alien trading in another environment, the missus was out but I felt 'on edge' the whole time, result?, down £80 (not a big deal I know) but I now find myself trading somewhere where it should be easy, however with a deaf neighbour who only last night plays his music that loud it looks like we are now going to have to get environmental health round I can't really sit down confidently knowing that I have a perfect place I am able to trade.

For those that don't know I quit my job last year to pursue trading after attending a course, which was the most stupidest I think I've ever done, I now have gone back to work and in such a lousy job in an effort to save up & build a bigger bank, the hours ain't ideal but some weeks give me an opportunity to trade at reasonable hours.

What I'm hoping for with this post is others to share their trading history, what they (you did right) on your 'journey' to be a better trader?, I mean not with your execution on moves but from the outside, did you find you had to change something from your day to day life in order to be successful, what did you do wrong & what did you do right in an effort to succeed?, did you have to sacrifice anything (or anyone even?)
xitian
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:08 pm

What was the biggest factor in my making a success out of trading on Betfair? Probably luck.

Not luck in the sense of being lucky on some trades, but being lucky on the decisions that I made, which may not have been the best decisions at the time. For example I left my job to go full-time on Betfair before I even made a penny. I told myself that I had savings, decent CV to fall back on, etc... but the real truth was that I probably just didn't like my job very much. Since I'm a systematic trader (using automation) I left based on some ideas I had and some "paper trading" I had done. It soon turned out that my strategy didn't work in practice, and at that point I had no job and no idea. I decided to give it another go, and luckily enough for me my next strategy worked in practice - took me about 4 months from idea to research to paper trading to running live. I haven't looked back since then.

Now in retrospect, would I have left my job at that point again? Probably not. I should have carried on as a hobby and waited until I had a verified income stream. Did I succeed because I went full-time? Quite possibly - I had more time, was able to focus, and had more drive to succeed. And so there's where my biggest piece of luck came. I probably shouldn't have left, but I did, but because I did, it worked out. However if it didn't, I'd probably have gone back to work or found something else within a year.

The other biggest factor to my success is probably just my background. I think you have a much better chance of success in any business if you have some specialty or personality trait that is relevant to that business. For me, that's computer science and experience working in finance technology.

Going back to the luck thing though. I should probably point out that I have a history of "trying things out". I've tried a few different businesses before - casual games developer, IT support company, trucking business in Africa, Million Dollar Homepage derivative... So perhaps I was finally due some luck. I think there's a balance between knowing when to quit and when to persist, which comes back to that objective thinking thing I've sometimes been banging on about. But I still can't help feeling very lucky to have had 1 win out of about 5. It probably helps that I've done a lot of that while I was young though.
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

Korattt wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 7:48 am
Here I am lying in bed this morning thinking why I haven't been successful over the past year.

Had to pull out of the office I was hiring because of various distractions.. noisy adjoining rooms, false fire alarms that sort of thing that has put me right off the idea of hiring out another office.

So, I terminated the contract at the earliest, pulled out my gear & set up camp in our spare room, tried to trade yesterday but just couldn't concentrate, felt so alien trading in another environment, the missus was out but I felt 'on edge' the whole time, result?, down £80 (not a big deal I know) but I now find myself trading somewhere where it should be easy, however with a deaf neighbour who only last night plays his music that loud it looks like we are now going to have to get environmental health round I can't really sit down confidently knowing that I have a perfect place I am able to trade.

For those that don't know I quit my job last year to pursue trading after attending a course, which was the most stupidest I think I've ever done, I now have gone back to work and in such a lousy job in an effort to save up & build a bigger bank, the hours ain't ideal but some weeks give me an opportunity to trade at reasonable hours.

What I'm hoping for with this post is others to share their trading history, what they (you did right) on your 'journey' to be a better trader?, I mean not with your execution on moves but from the outside, did you find you had to change something from your day to day life in order to be successful, what did you do wrong & what did you do right in an effort to succeed?, did you have to sacrifice anything (or anyone even?)

I think some like the idea of trading , and make it far to complicated , and usually those. Are the ones that will never make a success of it .

When you hired your "office " Korrattt what were your expectations, and what sort of income had you budgeted for , what was the size of your bank etc , and had tested your ideas before you gave up work etc .

Surely hiring an office and giving up your job is Just putting more more pressure on you .. I've read your posts over the months and you just seem blame anything and everything for your failings.

To me the whole idea of trading is to free myself up from the daily 9-5 grind , to be able to get up when I like , trade the times that suit me., or not trade at all . And enjoy the freedom to what I want .
The last thing I'd ever dream of doing ( especially if starting out ) would be to hire an office!!

To many the idea of trading with all the trappings, trading desk , office etc , seems to be more important than actually being able to do it successfully. Almost need them to make them feel as tho they can trade !!

I started out with an old laptop in a small bedroom .. now in a bigger bedroom with an old Ped Desk and all in one Pc . Not especially hi spec . And still use old laptop in living room occasionally .. subscription to Atr and racing uk and pro form and that's it.
Have traded in hotels etc . Would never dream of hiring an office

Id be interested in why you wanted to trade, bank size, expected profit from first year , and what your thought process was in wanting to hire an office before you'd being profitable ?

How much have you profited or lost this past year , and what size bank are you planned no to start again with ?
Korattt
Posts: 2405
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:46 pm

Halliday wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 2:06 pm
.. what were your expectations, and what sort of income had you budgeted for , what was the size of your bank etc , and had tested your ideas before you gave up work etc,

..I've read your posts over the months and you just seem blame anything and everything for your failings.

To me the whole idea of trading is to free myself up from the daily 9-5 grind , to be able to get up when I like , trade the times that suit me., or not trade at all . And enjoy the freedom to what I want .
The last thing I'd ever dream of doing ( especially if starting out ) would be to hire an office!!

I'd be interested in why you wanted to trade, bank size, expected profit from first year , and what your thought process was in wanting to hire an office before you'd being profitable ?

How much have you profited or lost this past year , and what size bank are you planned no to start again with ?
Fair comments there Halliday,

What I'm elluding to is that I've done everything wrong in an effort to attempt trading, in two years or so I've bitten more than I can chew so to speak thinking that I've learnt more than enough to go full time and that putting myself in the ideal environment (i.e. an office) would only help when in fact it only created added pressure and with retrospect not knowing near enough what I needed to know about the markets, basically I now find myself back at square one.

I hear you when you say I've been blaming anyone & everything for my lack of success and you may be right, hence the reason why I've gone back to the beginning to start again, what were my expectations?, to be honest I was that cock sure I could make it work I didn't even contemplate that and as for budgeting that was severely neglected, maybe through excitement maybe through inexperience or overconfidence.

Just a little frustrated that I've been silly enough to put everything into it with not knowing enough about what I was doing, thought a Bet Angel course would've been enough and away I go which in hindsight is NOT the way to go.

How much have I lost?, over the past year five figures, what would my starting bank be when I get back to it?, I would imagine five figures again BUT I now I know not to overstake, which was another mistake I was prone to making.

What I should've done which I will do is attend the Trading Master Class as this will I guess give me more of an understanding of the 'mechanics' of the markets & to a fair degreee educate me to what I am missing, I was mulling over attending Steve Howes course, however I do think I would be better off with Peter's course.
User avatar
Dallas
Posts: 22673
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:57 pm
Location: Working From Home

Having the right environment shouldn't be under estimated the smallest of distractions can and will effect your trading, if you have a noisy neighbour or kids in the house then maybe try using headphone with some music between listening to the Tv (if you have the commentary on). Also ask your partner or anyone else who is in the house to respect your hours of work and to only disturb you if its a matter of importance. Something i started doing a few years back was putting my mobile into silent mode - you could guarantee when that PPI call came it was always at the worst possible time.
Korattt
Posts: 2405
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:46 pm

Dallas wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 4:52 pm
Having the right environment shouldn't be under estimated the smallest of distractions can and will effect your trading..
tried headphones but just didn't feel right, there are times when everything has been "perfect" & I found myself "in the zone" and I felt "at one" in that particular market & that's how I want to feel in each & every one I participate in
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

Are you sure those times you feel in the zone aren't solely down to the fact the markets went your way and you were winning?
Korattt
Posts: 2405
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:46 pm

spreadbetting wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 5:35 pm
Are you sure those times you feel in the zone aren't solely down to the fact the markets went your way and you were winning?
no, I've been in markets before my position has been filled & I've felt as if I'm "in the zone"
User avatar
SeaHorseRacing
Posts: 2893
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 7:06 pm

Korattt wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 6:52 pm
spreadbetting wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 5:35 pm
Are you sure those times you feel in the zone aren't solely down to the fact the markets went your way and you were winning?
no, I've been in markets before my position has been filled & I've felt as if I'm "in the zone"
It could be a case of over complicating your trading.

The more and more you have learned it could be in fact digressing. After 6 moths of trading I was at a stage of shaking the pc every day and that was because of so much contradictory advice out there.

Cut profits short... some say dont.

I think you may be suffering from getting the balance right other then your environment. I am not sure if its just me but I can trade really well and I can hear the kids in the next room. Obviously I wouldn't recommend it when it comes to learning but its mainly down to the fact that I accept all losses as my own fault. If I have a bad day I no longer try to blame the noise or the cat. I just get on with it...
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

SeaHorseRacing wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 7:07 pm
Korattt wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 6:52 pm
spreadbetting wrote:
Sun May 21, 2017 5:35 pm
Are you sure those times you feel in the zone aren't solely down to the fact the markets went your way and you were winning?
no, I've been in markets before my position has been filled & I've felt as if I'm "in the zone"
It could be a case of over complicating your trading.

The more and more you have learned it could be in fact digressing. After 6 moths of trading I was at a stage of shaking the pc every day and that was because of so much contradictory advice out there.

Cut profits short... some say dont.

I think you may be suffering from getting the balance right other then your environment. I am not sure if its just me but I can trade really well and I can hear the kids in the next room. Obviously I wouldn't recommend it when it comes to learning but its mainly down to the fact that I accept all losses as my own fault. If I have a bad day I no longer try to blame the noise or the cat. I just get on with it...
Just keep your trades simple ... the majority of my trades are on horse racing .. and nearly all start with an opening lay To back trade .. once you've done the prep/ study for the race the rest becomes second nature .. and you find that for a lot of the trades....They just happen and you exit without a a great deal of thought because you've done it thousands of times


Korattt do you just trade on the one sport . And are all your trades similar ? Or do you use different strategies?

Pick a sport you've an interest in , by all means listen to others but do things the way you prefer ... and keep it simple .. and believe me if you replicate the same trade thousands of times .. it doesn't matter where you are or what the distractions are .. it's almost robotic !!

But most of all enjoy what you do .. if you don't give it up !!
Post Reply

Return to “Trading Psychology”