New blog post by Ryan Carruthers! #3 Meet The Betfair Trading Community Members - Luke Ridger

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The first post from The Betfair Trading Community's Meet the Members series was so popular, we are continuing to champion the good ones!

If you are a regular reader of our Betfair trading site, you will know that we want to take the 95% of losing traders on Betfair and turn them into profitable traders, this is the next installments from BTC on our 'Meet the Members' series. I hope this story about one of our longest-serving members at Betfair Trading Community and will inspire you in your trading on Betfair.

Just to recap, I came up with this idea of asking the members a set of questions, they all got the same and I will be posting one a month so that you can see their answers to the trading questions, gain inspiration and hopefully learn from them.

The questions are as follows...

Do you remember the first time you traded on Betfair? What was it like? Did you notice anything around your emotional state?
What was most surprising to you about Betfair Trading?
What attracted you to Betfair Trading?
What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced in trading on Betfair? & what steps have you taken to face that challenge?
How has your trading changed? & why do you think this has changed?
What is your outlook for the future trading on Betfair?
What have you learned about trading on Betfair?
Is there an achievement you or contribution you are most proud of?
Is there anything you think I should have asked you but I haven't?

I have no fancy order other than who responded first to me, let me introduce the second person in this ‘Meet the Betfair Trading Community Members’ series!!!

Do you remember the first time you traded on Betfair? What was it like? Did you notice anything around your emotional state?

It was around 9/10 years ago, I don't remember much although I was dabbling around with laying a fair bit, I did feel like I could make some money on here with better odds possibilities, it wasn't till I started researching with youtube video's did i understand how much money I could make from trading.

2.What was most surprising to you about Betfair Trading?

It was the amount of liquidity around at the time, once I got my head around it, I started to understand money flow better, then seeing how popular cricket markets were, 10s of millions matched in Test matches, IPL, etc I started to understand I haven't stumbled across something new.

3. What attracted you to Betfair Trading?

I love economics, I love Sport and dreamed of running my life how I wanted without losing time to work. It was a natural fit for me, getting the plans in place to do it wasn't so easy, there is plenty to consider before you go FT especially if you want to own property.

4. What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced in trading on Betfair? &

what steps have you taken to face that challenge?

It was the dynamic of keeping wins/losses to similar amounts, I had a really strong S/R on pre-trading but winning 8 markets with a flurry of fivers each and then getting absolutely tanked on a Europa league Semi made me realize I needed to be smarter and stricter, keep losses lower than wins ideally but if they are similar , I know i would win on S/R alone, sometimes you need to get your arse kicked to come up with a plan, I lost plenty of money but it was lessons I needed to learn/investment into the concept . Addressing any problems require time in the markets, there are no shortcuts .

5. How has your trading changed? & why do you think this has changed?

The belief I have, in my own skillset, understanding. The confidence to voice opinions against the crowd and ultimately to go against the market at times is the biggest change, Sports markets don't work the same way as financial, sometimes we see corrections or re-alignment and you have to trust yourself. Be disciplined but back yourself.

6. What is your outlook for future trading on Betfair?

Uncertain, I'm concerned we are seeing liquidity reduce, they have to do something with the Premium charge, it's killing liquidity. I have put plans in place to get other systems, strategies, trading moved over to other providers if poss, again not easy but I have put a plan in place.

7. What have you learned about trading on Betfair?

That with time/dedication you can become a trader, it's a battle mentally. You will be down at times, you will feel untouchable, but you do get there where things become clearer mentally, this allows you to just get on with it and execute. This is a second coming for me, I thought I said goodbye to trading for good in 2016/2017, I went from a 15k trading bank to 0k which had nothing to do with trading, I didn't believe I would be back, but I am and better than I ever was before. Taking a break from it is not a bad thing.

8. Is there an achievement you or contribution you are most proud of?

Not sure on this, 4 years ago I would have said the biggest achievement was being able to use it to support my family, now looking back i would say the biggest achievement and encouragement for anyone is, I have been away and started with scratch again and have overtaken my position of 4 years ago, anyone can do it. Have faith that you can do it.

9. Is there anything you think I should have asked you but I haven't?

What hints/tips could you give someone starting or any existing traders?

I've said this before, but on my fridge is whiteboard magnet, I write down an hour counter of how many hours I've spent on the markets to date, every time I do an hour, I added it to the counter. I know I'm only going to get better by spending time on it so I can monitor it. This encourages me even in the bad moments if I am losing money.... not great but I am banking hours experience on the market as well.

Secondly looking ahead, if you can forecast opportunities this works out. Especially for you busy family people or people who have plenty going on in life, give yourself windows, take breaks, don't burn out. Just bank the hours as and when.

Finally take a moment to come up with 3 plans.... one that is a weekly plan, like Sunday, analyze games for the upcoming week, Weds night, research stats, etc, Team news... Saturday execute between 12-5pm, rinse and repeat.

2nd plan is for the year if you are trading the football season, what are you doing offseason? Take a break? invest in football index to keep your money working? learn a new sport? read books/research etc? improve yourself and of course spend time doing other things .

3rd plan - Long term, where are you going, where do you want to be? Get this nailed because bumbling along doesn't work in a sense you are losing money by not being driven to get to your long term plan.

Ryan

@Luke-Ridger