The Last 2.5 Weeks

The last 2.5 weeks have been quite a whirlwind of activity around the household. We've had Jessica's brother, my dad, an emergency trip for Jessica to California and a few other business-related things that have kept this household one big activity center.

Today my dad left and boy is the house a mess. Guess I better get it cleaned before Jess gets back huh?

Anyway, despite all that, I would say that the I've also gone from being a total amateur-newbie arb trader to what I would classify as an experienced amateur. I'm discovering more and more that this CAN be a real profession and I'm now at the point where I'm coming up with better ways to build the mousetrap, so it's pretty exciting.

As a general rule, I've made money every day. There have been two days that I lost a bit and that was because *I* took my chances on a couple of trades, knowing full well that they might end up the way they did. Being one of those that "just has to know", I'm always willing to stick my neck out just a little bit in order to prove a theory to myself.

So, on to trading:

As I mentioned before, I started getting back into the trading game on August 28th. I started small just to get the hang of it again. I remember when I participated in the live training for the surebetpro software they stated that a good professional trader can do a trade in under two minutes, but that as a newbie, we should shoot for five minutes and work our way down. Well, my first trade on the 28th took about five minutes, so I was happy. But being competitive AND a computer geek, I figured that I should not only be able to get down to two minutes but should be able to BEAT the two minute mark. And I am pleased to say that a few days ago, I figured out a way to do it and I can now place my trades in about 90 seconds. I am shooting for one minute and think it will be possible for me to do that within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned . . .

Because my dad was here, my ability to trade was a little off and on, but I did actually make a few bucks and here is the breakdown:

August 28: $17.38 (combination of Tennis and Baseball)
Average Percentage Profit: 1.665%

August 30: .71 (Baseball)
Percentage Profit: .21% (this was a trade I made because one of my bookmaker accounts was low on funds but had me putting my trade on the favorite so my odds were good that money would get moved to that account)

August 31: -2.00 (Tennis)
Percentage Profit: -.74% (I made a mistake and placed the wrong amount of money with one bookmaker which resulted in the loss. Had I done it correctly, I would have won about $7.00) - MY BAD!!!

September 1: $22.32 (Baseball)
Average Percentage Profit: 4.675%

September 3: $17.40 (Baseball)
Percentage Profit: 1.74%

September 4: -60.00 (Tennis)
Percentage Profit: -60% (This was the result of me placing money on what I suspected was a bad line and then not checking up on it later. If you put money down on something that you suspect is a bad line - and they tell you not to ever do that if you want to make money - be sure to pay close attention to any adjustments the bookmaker might make so that you can hedge your bet. In short, I recommend that you listen to the experts and go with your gut. If it looks suspect, it probably is. I placed the trade and walked away from my computer. By the time I got back, I had an email telling me that they had voided the wager and refunded my money, but the game had already been played. Once again - MY BAD).

September 5: $29.34 (Combination Tennis/Baseball)
Percentage Profit: 2.37%
This was the first day that I really started to feel like I was getting into the groove of it - being able to go through my mental checklist quickly (what time the game starts, do the lines look right? Do the lines match what the software is telling me, etc) and I was finally starting to feel more comfortable with my trading. Also started to feel more excited about it as well. :)

September 6: 21.90 (Mostly Baseball - 1 Tennis Match)
Percentage Profit: 4.4225%
Ok Ok - truth be told, I just decided to bet $10.00 on Sharipova in the US Open and did not actually find an arb on that match, so the money made on actual trades was all on baseball that day. Luckily I won. :) Sadly the profit on that was only $1.10.

September 7: $70.40 (Tennis/Baseball)
Percentage Profit: 8.988%
Yes, you read that right! A whopping 8.998% average for the day. I was quick enough and lucky enough to get in on a couple of 20% trades. Nice day but don't expect to see them too often. This was a case where I looked at the lines over and over, made sure they were not out of whack, made the trades and still thought that there might be something wrong. Lucky me - there wasn't. Nice day (which also happened to be our wedding anniversary).

September 8: $157.65 (Tennis)
Percentage Profit: 9.955%
Yet another awesome day percentage-wise. Sure makes a difference when you get to where you can place trades fast. Getting down to close to the 2-3 minute mark has allowed me to get in on some of the really good trades.

September 9: $117.36 (Baseball)
Average Percentage Profit: 6.97%
I'm on a roll and am happy with my daily income. Now if only I could figure out how to place these trades even faster!

September 10: .96 (Tennis)
Percentage Profit: 2%
Ok - running into a bit of a problem now. All my money has ended up with one bookmaker and I need to make trades just to spread the wealth. I could move money into Neteller and out but that is time consuming and costs a little bit of money. Since my dad is here and Jess has to leave for California, I probably will not have a lot of time for trading this week anyway, but I'm going to try to keep my eye out just to stay in practice.

September 11: Off

September 12: .85 (Baseball)
Percentage Profit: 1.06%
Moving money is so much fun. Especially when I only get to be in front of my computer for about 10 minutes today.

September 13: 4.60 (Tennis)
Percentage Profit: .835%
Well the arbs are not looking great right now - it's probably because of my limited time and my available time is not matching up with the times of the good arbs.

September 14, 15: Off

Incidentally, if you are interested in getting into the arb world, feel free to drop me a line at mbenz@b-linkdglobal.com. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have and even call you and help you out. No reason why anyone should make the same mistakes I've made. :)