My Biggest Win Of 2007

Daily P/L: £0.84
Monthly P/L: £102.28

I know, £0.84 is pretty pathetic, but I'm relieved that I managed to post any type of green today as I was staring at a red screen for most of the time.

The day started with a trip to Bristol to pick a car for the Fiancee. It took a while to find the place we were looking for, and this 'time pressure' might have had something to do with my lack of patience later in the day. I ended getting back home half way through the Ulster v Llanelli game so my first involvement of the day was Wasps v Perpignan.

French rugby teams are unpredictable in every way (attitude, style of play etc.) but I was sure that Perpignan would put up a fight as a defeat would mean they'd find it very difficult to go on and qualify for the next stage. This didn't turn out to be the case and Wasps never really looked like they'd lose the game so I traded here and there and had to settle for a small green.

The big attraction for me today though was the NFL Playoffs - I've been looking forward to these all week and it seems my over-eagerness landed me in trouble. My pre-match analysis led me to believe that the Baltimore v Indianapolis game would be "a close one, with the match likely to be seperated by one score - Ravens have the edge due to home advantage but if Indianapolis are able to stop the rush then they should win". In hindsight, I got it spot on. Indianapolis won 15-6 and considering Baltimore started the game at a price of 1.56 I feel I missed an opportunity here. Instead, I got into the market too early and at the wrong times and had to bail myself out pretty quickly. Even though my strategy was the correct one the way I went about it messed things up and I spent the next two hours grinding my way back. If I'd traded the first quarter the way I traded the rest of the game I'd have been very happy. On a positive note, my analysis of the NFL Playoffs in an earlier post seems to be holding up.

It's clear to me now that I over-traded. This hasn't been a problem over recent months so I'm looking for answers - is writing a blog putting me under pressure and making me trade in a different way? This is possible, but I should be more disciplined than this. Nobody wants to make a fool of themselves and I definitely don't want things to go pear shaped within a few weeks of attracting readers but maybe I just have to have a little more confidence, wait for the opportunity and hit it hard.

Day's like these make me remember one of the sayings that keep me on track - "if I can keep to small losses, small gains and big gains I'll become a successful trader."

With these thoughts firmly at the front of my mind the plan for today is to target the Heineken Cup and again the NFL Playoffs.