How long will it take to learn to trade

We were all new to Bet Angel once. Ask any question you like here and fellow forum members promise not to laugh. Betfair trading made simple.

How many markets did you trade before you started being consistantly profitable?

500
16
19%
1000
7
8%
2000
2
2%
3000
5
6%
4500
2
2%
6000
4
5%
7500
6
7%
9000
3
3%
10000+
41
48%
 
Total votes: 86
themcg
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:06 pm

i started manually pre race trading properly in may 2015. id been doing a bit at the weekends for about a year before that but i was off work with a broken leg so i thought id give it a serious go. i traded almost every day for 4 months, you could count on 1 hand the number of days off i had. I didnt really get anywhere i had stopped a few rookie mistakes like going in play and over staking very early but i was still at a loss at the end of every week. When my leg was fixed i went back to work and trading weekends til April 2016. Then in April i got a new job that paid £120 a week less than the job i had but the hours were better suited to trading. So again i started trading 7 days a week. It was pretty much all one way traffic until july this year when i eventually called it a day. i had the odd winning week but nothing worth talking about. And after over 10000 races i was no closer to cracking it than i was when i first started. If the trading journey was London to Edinburgh after 3 years i still wouldnt be out of my street. So if you think 5 or 10000 markets traded will be some guarantee of success i can tell u its not.
eightbo
Posts: 2154
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 8:19 pm
Location: Malta / Australia

Forever learning it seems! Personally, I must be between 5k horse racing markets. Have too many different files to get a decent estimate for sure though.

I'd say I had the knowledge to be profitable around 1k, but obtaining the execution to stick to my rules is taking much longer than I ever imagined at the 1k mark. :ugeek:
User avatar
mcgoo
Posts: 898
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:30 pm

I have been trying to automate trading on Betfair for years part time. I forget how many years (more than 5) and have had long gaps in terms of consistency during that time.I was far more focused on the automation from a technical challenge perspective than thinking about what trading actually meant. I started watching PW videos at the beginning of the year and it changed everything about how I view BF markets and myself- I had a few realisations about how important your nature is re trading , during this period.I started reading and watching videos about trading psychology as it became apparent that this aspect is key.When I realised that the market was turning against me at the exact instant that I opened a trade because I was looking for it-it nearly blew my mind (had a reminder of this today when my mindset wasn't right-had to reset and slowly moved into profit-tough days still). Trading does seem to reflect ones mind/nature very accurately.When I got this, I stopped losing and my BF balance graph evened out. I have continued with the automation and am finding some success there too now. It is not easy but I still enjoy the challenge. I started trading horses 'properly''(manually) about a month ago and have made $70 over about 250 markets in the past month.Not exactly stellar but I haven't had one losing Saturday yet.It is difficult in Oz ,I find, with a full time job as you only really have Saturdays to trade and the UK markets are on too late for me(young family adds challenges). My personality is not geared towards risk taking so I have found that if I find an edge I have to stick to it like glue and let expectations go. On that, of course finding an edge is bloody important and obviously a big part of success but I think one needs both-edge+psychology (know thyself has never meant more to me than now) .Anyway, I guess as long as I am not losing badly, I keep going. I would love to do this full time but perhaps I don't have 'it';that said if I can make money as little as it is, I reckon most people can do ok with effort. I also think that a hobby like this keeps the grey matter going like few other pursuits, so I try remind myself of that when I have an off day. Best of luck!
User avatar
ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

The distribution of votes isn't quite what I expected. If I'd got the selections right I guess it would look like this (below), with the peak being at around a year/10k mkts/10k hrs, with a few people getting it unusually quickly.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Derek27
Posts: 23476
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Perhaps some people have a natural aptitude for trading and some don't and take a lot longer to learn it ?
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harsh
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:26 am

I like the voting system. Through one question, many other answers can be fetched.

Above question required atleast 600 votes, to get close to accurate results.

Total members in this forum = 18436
Consistent traders 10% = 1843.6 (No. of members can vote)

Why members are not voting, can be many reasons, couple of I say,
1.They are non-active.
2.They are not consistent(this proves above 10% imaginary value wrong)
snowman
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:52 am

I started to try and learn to trade two and a half years ago. Part time because I worked, still do.
Lost countless £100 start ups. gave up for 3 months then tried again, same result. Couldn't take a red race, had to go in play. Gave up again.
Tried 6 months after that, watching PW videos (and others), 'Froze' when a race went against me, watched the red go from £1.60 to £4.80 to £11.20, £27.30 etc. You don't need me to tell you, desperately let the race go in play & almost sob with relief when the horse lost. But I was just prolonging the agony, because sooner or later, the horse won & I lost (say) 90% of my bank. Gave up for another 3 months, got BA Pro in July.
Watched hours & HOURS of videos mainly about scratching but others too. Lowered my stakes, so that I didn't have to wait for a trade to finish before being able to go back in. In this way I'm often able to make profit on other runners, which lowers the bad trade red.
Finally, and thankfully, got a lightbulb moment and these are my recent results, last 4 days actually:-
Sunday 18 Races - 1 Red for £1.33 - Net Profit £17.32
Monday 14 Races - 2 Reds for £4.65 & £10.52 - Net Profit £19.33
Tuesday 12 Races - No Reds - Net Profit £17.51
Today 22 Races - 2 Reds for £1.70 & £4.62 - Net Profit £52.59
No races allowed to go in play.
A pittance for some of the experts of course, but i was able to start accepting losses, because I realised I could still make a profit at the end of the day.
I really hope it takes no one as long as it took me.
Iron
Posts: 6793
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:51 pm

If Google ever dabble in trading on Betfair, the rest of should pack up and go home! 😂

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42251535

To go from learning the rules of chess to being probably far better than any human in history within a few hours is breathtaking.
vhdgkl
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:26 am

The opposite for me...
i learnt to trade very early..i saw adam todd videos in 2003-4,and i copied it :D :D

golden age for years...my edge?first on the queue, any possibilities to manipulate the market(in some situations i backed for many money the odds from 12 to 8,4-8,2,and wenh appeared many money to back then i layed all to 9,6-9,8..and i gained very well) .. ,and scalping following the trend+wom.

in 2009-2010 finish every possibilities to be first in the queue,and the other things...so i tried and tried,and after thousand hours to studied trading,i gave up.

in that period i gained many money on the other markets...i manipulated small markets(san remo italy song festival),i put the money and i managed full market :mrgreen: ...or,another way,when a singer sang a song then the odds ,ever, go down..ever...i backed at the start of the song,and i layed before started new singer :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


incredible how everything has canghed...today if i put money on betfair i have only one way:lose money


so,i learnt to trade very early...but after spent thousand and thousand(20-30-50-100 thousands? i don't know) of hours i stopped to being able to trade :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ( :( :( :( )
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

I thought this video explains it pretty well How Long Does It Take To Learn To Trade?
Panrich
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:54 pm

This is a fascinating thread for me as I came to BetAngel trading via my interest in having a flutter and had previously tried all the tools that might give me an edge in betting eg Proform with very limited success that invariably led to a gradual erosion of my bank.

I started with BetAngel in February and watched the videos and started straight in to trying to bet on swings. Scalping just didn't do it for me as the gains were too small with a minscule bank to seem worthwhile. I started with a very small bank for this experiment and backed in €2 stakes, winning and losing cents each race. I started with backing to lay and trying to find horses that I judged likely to come in as my bank wasn't geared up for laying. I was finding that most races I was doing ok but the ones that went against me REALLY went against me and I tended to hold out too long and took bigger losses than necessary. Couple that with an exuberance that often saw me decide that if my horse was coming in then some other horse would go out and I would jump on that as well. This often led to BIG reverses against me and on some occasions, big wins but certainly more losses than wins. Howvere overall, I was still showing a small increase.

I gradually just lost interest in the experiment and put it aside until last week. I have started in again with a little more discipline and I've surprised myself that this discipline alone allows me to eliminate big losses (one horse traded per market, pick a stop loss etc.) and make little profits per race. I now put a lot more money in play but this means that I can take a margin in a race on much smaller swings. There are still many reverses but overall I'm building up slowly. I still obviously have a long way to go and I still lose on too many markets (6 out of 38 last week) but that's ok.
User avatar
Rollox
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:11 pm

Just my tuppence worth.
I have now had bet angel subscription for apprx 1.5 years, became intrigued after watching countless youtube videos(ran my own buisness for 22yrs previously in construction, looking for a new avenue).
Lost apprx £1500 through what i call my learning curve, by no means greatly profitable yet but the tide has turned albeit very slowly perseverance, dedication and a willingness to learn is key i think, too many give up without giving it a proper go.
I would relate the learning curve to a mini degree and im a strong believer in that if you dont put anything into life youre not going to get anything out.
Research is key to finding an edge.
Anyway great forum peters videos are great for saturday night viewing beats x factor and strictly hands down :lol:
I would say all the information to trade these markets is out there the hard part is corralating all the correct helpful information and disregarding the rest to gain an edge.
Pepperpot
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:11 am

I’ve been trading for the last 11 months stakes 2/5/10 bank 120 sofar I’ve lost 36. Am I on the right track. Or am I wasting my time.
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

Pepperpot wrote:
Tue Nov 20, 2018 4:22 pm
I’ve been trading for the last 11 months stakes 2/5/10 bank 120 sofar I’ve lost 36. Am I on the right track. Or am I wasting my time.
Surely you're best placed to know that. You should know if you're progressing , making silly mistakes etc. Many people take longer than 11 months and lose a lot more than £36 before going on to earn fortunes trading.
Pepperpot
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:11 am

Hi. As a 82 yr old newbie I think I may have been looking for a bit of encouragement and in your reply I think I may have found it. Thankyou.
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