Trading To Win On Horse Racing

“What does psychology have to with trading?” one might ask. “Everything” is the answer.  “What does trading have to do with horse racing?” may the second question to arise when used in the context of this blog. Again, everything. The same disciplines both physical and mental, must be applied to earn any long term returns in any market.

Did you know that Australia …

•  has more racecourses than any other country (479)
• has the second largest number of individual starters behind the USA (31,639)
• accounts for 13% of the total races of leading racing countries
• offers the third largest amount of prizemoney in the world (331,472,66)
• accounts for 8.29% of total world purses
• Around 22,000 races are held each year and that averages 60 races a day
• The racing Industry contributes to State and Federal Governments and has a direct economic benefit to the Australian economy.

Some flashy figures to take on board:

2003/2004 

• The TAB accounted for 75.3% of total wagering turnover compared to 24.7% by bookmakers.
• Australia’s Wagering turnover for Thoroughbred Horse Racing for 2003/04 totaled $11.15 billion, an increase of 5.5% on the previous year.
• Off-course wagering increased to 85.68% of total wagering. New South Wales was the leading wagering State accounting for 34.71% of total wagering.
• The TAB accounted for 75.3% of total wagering turnover compared to 24.7% by bookmakers.
• The total betting turnover was $14,653,982,458

2006/2007

• Wagering turnover on thoroughbred racing during 2006/2007 amounted to $12.85 billion
• New South Wales remained Australias leading wagering jurisdiction, accounting for 29.4% of the total thoroughbred wagering turnover

As long as there is racing and laws permitting the ability to invest/gamble/wager on these races, there will be the opportunity to profit with the right toolkit.  Just as one may use many tools such as technical analysis through the use of software and charting tools as well as fundamental information to profit from share trading, someone wagering on racing can use very similar tools.

How does one trade technically on racing? In day trading shares or Forex for instance, we may have a ‘fundamental’ idea of what trades we would like to make but by large, it is all about what we see in front of us in the live market will drive our trades. The same goes for racing. ‘On-the-day’ conditions can blow the fundamentals out of the water. There are several consistencies to be aware of in ths market and it those we capitalise on.

On the day, those with the most accurate information will invest accordingly and it is that movement that we are most interested seeing in when trading in almost any market. There are many ways to see such when lookng at pools associated with racing and the most common way is simply looking for ’shorteners’ in the market. The main problem here is that one does not typically know if it was a move due to big money or just pool dynamics.

This highlights the importance of being able to see the money. With most programs that use Bettordata such as Bettortrader for instance, there are a series of calculations being performed by the software that give an approximate dollar figure of how much money came in at a given time.

On the Melbourne Cup in 2006, the rise in the flow of betting on the winner Delta Blues in one hit in Unitab was huge. At around 120seconds out from start time, the flow of betting jumped from around $1700 to just under $30,000. This method of selecting is easier for some than others which is why Bettortrader became fully automated in December 2007 and has been undergoing constant development since.

Using many criteria that have been passionately formulated by us through hands on experience in the live market, the software uses stop loss and floating stop loss alerts to manage your position in the market, protecting your profits and your reserves. This also means that the software can be set up to trade for you. Now, when I say auto I really mean auto. Set it up and walk away. The results are outstanding and will be posted shortly.

As far as the mental side goes, it’s like anything. If youwant to gamble, walk out n front of moving traffic. If you want to take an educated risk, use the crossing. They both have an element of risk but one is of course smarter than the other. One can gamble with anything and if the simple rule is, if it interferes with your life in a negative way, give it up for a while and get help.

Some have an addictive personality and trade just for some sort of activity or lack of it. Some do so for some kind of strange kick or high. If this is you, stp trading. You will not make money in the long term. You will surely only have spikes of success with losses long forgotten seconds after they happen.

It is really all common sense. An addictive trader will not manage risk or stop when they are losing. That is because action not profit is the goal. Good traders trade actively. Addictive traders over-trade.

Don’t be an addictive trader. Be alert. Check yourself. Get others involved. Don’t be alone. Join a community of like mnded traders such as we have with the Bettortrader members. Share your knowledge and absorb others. We should all help each other in our plight to break free of the norm and have the things we deserve and trading on thoroughbred, greyhound or harness racing is one way to do it as long as we do it intelligently and support each other along the way.

Peace.