Betfair Official Blog

A Rocky Monday Morning

Tumultuous news over the weekend demands a more cautious approach this week from our Trader...

After a lazy weekend (which I find a nice distraction compared to the frenetic sporting betting action available over the Sabbath,) its time to return to the hustle and bustle of trading. The FTSE 100 rolling daily morning market shoots up from 5787 to 5851 and it looks like we could be in for another rollercoaster week of trading in which careful monitoring and picking will allow me to grab some good trades off the market. I expect that the breaking news involving the nationalisation of the Rock, not to mention banks reporting more sub-prime-induced losses, will see the market drop again towards the middle of the week and pick up again before the weekend.

For now, I watch and wait on the morning trading should the price drop below 5850, whereupon a quick buy position may be in order. Its a dangerous game - I tried this on Friday when the market was at 5850 and was rewarded with a 30 point drop - my £100 buy trade at 5850 plummeted down to 5820 before I bit the bullet and got out. It continued to plummet to 5763 before recovering slightly. Sometimes when the plummet occurs I wait for it to recover slightly before bailing out but on Friday my instinct served me well and I jumped before any real damage occurred.

Monthly PL: £1386.00

Lesson Learnt: Anything can happen on a Monday morning, particularly after a heady weekend of financial news. Sit tight until its all calmed down.