TheOddsTrader.com

As a new trader on the betting exchanges there is a lot of information to digest. Here is eight tips i wish someone would have given me when i was a new trader.

1. Start out with small amounts and/or do some paper trading

There’s a lot to learn in the beginning, and most of theese things you can’t just read - you have to experience them. Trying out your trading skills by writing down your trades on a piece of paper rather than actually submitting buy- and sellorders to the market can be a good thing. But paper trading is never really the same thing as actually putting some money in the markets, so you should not paper trade for more than a day or two. But start out small and use minimum bets at first until you get the hang of things.

2. Don’t increase your stakes to fast

Theoratically it is the same thing to trade with £0.10/point and £100/point, but in reality there are som big differences. Beside that it is getting harder to get your orders fully matched, there is a psychological side to it. To be -£2000 after a trading session is way harder for your mind than to be -#20, especially if it’s money you really can’t afford to lose. For people working with that kind of sums it’s just a part of the natural swings, but it’s still psychologicly challenging.

3. Learn to set goal price/odds

If you for example trades a tennis match between Federer and Nadal where Federer is serving and is valued at 75%, try to set the goal price/odds for a hold and for a break. Just write down what you think the price will be! Do this for every game in the match and see how close you gets. When you learn to set goal price/odds with just a 2-3 point marginal of error, you can become a very successful trader as it’s needed to be able to find value positions in the market.

4. Use a trading software

This is something i keep repeating, but that’s just because i feel it’s crucial for your trading career. Most trading softwares allows you to try them out for free during a limited period of time, so why not try them out? With a trading software you will trade faster and more effective - not to mention all the powerful tools they come with!

5. Find your market

A common mistake by new traders is to jump around between different sport markets. Of course it’s a good idea to try some of them out, but you should pretty fast choose one or two sports and stick to them. Use 95% of your trading time on theese markets, and the other 5% to try out new ones. It’s better to get really good in one or two sports, then to be mediocre in all of them.

6. Love to learn

Read all blogs, forums and books you can find that touches the subject! Of course there is a lot of “bad” information out there, and most sites just want to sell you lousy “trading systems” (don’t buy them, they’re all crap anyway). But on all pages you can always find something useful, just learn to filtrate out all the sales pitches and you have an ocean of knowledge!

7. Learn to accept losses

Losses and bad trades is a part of the game. Even if you are a good trader and make all the right decisions, you will leave some markes with red number. You will even leave days, weeks and months with red numbers sometimes! Of course you should cut your losses as soon as possible, but even the best trader some times hangs on to loosing positions ending up in a big red number. It’s psychologicly challenging to end a full working day with a negative result, but it happens to everyone. When it happens to you (and it will, there’s no way around it) you have to learn to accept it. If you feel tilted just turn off the computer, get outside and walk. When you get back, try to analyze what (if anything) went wrong, and don’t get back on the markets until you feel recovered.

8. Track your results

Write down your results and your working time in a text document or a spreadsheet. This will help you keep track on what you actually make per hour, something that will make it easier to take losses as you know that you make money in the long run.

If you follow theese eight tips you will get a better start to your trading career than you would without them - that i am absolute sure about.

Read other educational articles in the trading school

Filed under: Educational, Trading