Getting Out of a trade

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Smeetz
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:01 pm

Hello, I am new to Bet Angel and trading on Betfair. I am doing OK with my trading in practice mode but I can't get my head round one thing, If I lay a bet and it goes immediately against me, what is the quickest and easiest way to get out of the trade to cut loses. The same goes for backing. On occasion's when this has happened I am like a rabbit in the headlights. Sorry if it sound a stupid question.

Thank You
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Derek27
Posts: 23471
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Hi Smeetz, welcome to the forum.

The easiest and quickest way to close trade is to simply click the green-up button or the green-up column on the ladder one tick worse that current trading price in case the market moves.

However, when a move goes against you, whether you should get out immediately to cut your losses or give it more time and risk losing more, depends on a number of factors.

Perhaps most important is the size of your trade. If you have a large bet relative to your usual staking, with the intention of making a few ticks profit, you have to get out quickly or the potential losses could be massive and wipe out all your profits for a day or more.

If it's a smaller bet with the aim of getting a longer swing, your losses are smaller so you have more leeway to wait to see if the market moves in your favour. You also have time to evaluate what's going on in the rest of the market (i.e. other steamers or drifters) to consider the likelihood of the market moving in your favour.

If you often find that you're looking at big liabilities and keep having to close trade for a loss before they get too big (we've all been there), you're probably over staking.

Hope this helps and good luck,

Derek
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

It's not stupid, it's quite normal.

Before you even open a trade decide where you will exit if it goes against you. Don't try and do this when the trade is open and you are watching the reds & greens. If you are very new to BA then maybe try using a right-click stop loss. This isn't ideal for a number of reasons but as a beginner it will help you to be more disciplined.

So 1st choose the point at which your trade will have broken down. Eg If you plan to lay at 2.04, then if the price goes to 1.99 or 1.98 chances are it will fall further. So choose to stop at maybe 1.99 and STICK TO IT.

When you have more experience you will be more able to choose an exit by watching the market 'live' and consider other factors which might make you choose to hold or close your position.

It is essential that you accept that you will have losses, maybe even half your trades will lose, so get used to it. The forum has lots of recommended reading and viewing if you are interested about how your mind works and why you freeze and let losses run and maybe also take profits too soon.

Keep the stakes tiny Smeetz, there's going to be a lot of losing before you become profitable.
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Thebest147
Posts: 93
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:01 am

Smeetz wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:21 pm
Hello, I am new to Bet Angel and trading on Betfair. I am doing OK with my trading in practice mode but I can't get my head round one thing, If I lay a bet and it goes immediately against me, what is the quickest and easiest way to get out of the trade to cut loses. The same goes for backing. On occasion's when this has happened I am like a rabbit in the headlights. Sorry if it sound a stupid question.

Thank You
Personally if i am in that situation if laying,say 2nd fav and it goes against me straight away,it is hard to get matched as you are chasing the price,to give yourself time,back 1st and 3rd fav for good money as more than likely one off these are flying in,to counter balance your loss
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Derek27
Posts: 23471
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Thebest147 wrote:
Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:40 pm
Smeetz wrote:
Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:21 pm
Hello, I am new to Bet Angel and trading on Betfair. I am doing OK with my trading in practice mode but I can't get my head round one thing, If I lay a bet and it goes immediately against me, what is the quickest and easiest way to get out of the trade to cut loses. The same goes for backing. On occasion's when this has happened I am like a rabbit in the headlights. Sorry if it sound a stupid question.

Thank You
Personally if i am in that situation if laying,say 2nd fav and it goes against me straight away,it is hard to get matched as you are chasing the price,to give yourself time,back 1st and 3rd fav for good money as more than likely one off these are flying in,to counter balance your loss
With respect TB147, I don't think it's a good idea to blindly back the first and third favourite in this situation - you need to step back and re-evaluate the situation and avoid knee-jerk reactions.

If the second favourite is laid and it goes against you it's getting backed downwards, the others are more likely to drift. But in any case, it's not unusual for the first two in the betting to both get backed down, or drift as money comes for some of the outsiders.
Bluesky
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:26 pm

Derek27 wrote:
Sat Nov 18, 2017 10:12 pm
With respect TB147, I don't think it's a good idea to blindly back the first and third favourite in this situation - you need to step back and re-evaluate the situation and avoid knee-jerk reactions.

If the second favourite is laid and it goes against you it's getting backed downwards, the others are more likely to drift. But in any case, it's not unusual for the first two in the betting to both get backed down, or drift as money comes for some of the outsiders.
Absolutely agree with this. The OP is a new trader who has started in practise mode, the last thing they should be trying to do is have open trades running on more than one horse in a race at the same time. This can be done successfully but the chances of a newbie being able to do it are fairly close to zero.
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