Everybody likes a big winning trade.

I certainly do.

If a match develops perfectly and gives me the opportunity to make a bigger than average profit, I’m not going to complain about it.

But I don’t go looking for those trades.

If you’re hoping to make a second income from tennis trading, or perhaps eventually trade full time, you don’t want drama.

You don’t want excitement.

You want consistency.

Big Wins Look Great

It’s easy to be impressed when somebody posts a screenshot showing a huge profit from a single trade.

What you don’t usually see is what happened before or afterwards.

Did they make that profit because they found an excellent trading opportunity?

Or did they make it because they took a huge risk?

Those are two very different things.

If somebody made a profit of £500 and their Return on Investment (ROI) was 100%, then at some point they exposed themselves to a potential loss of £500.

The route they took could vary greatly. If they got a good price on their favoured player, backed for £500, and then hoped for the win they really were risking a £500 loss.

If a trader used a £500 stake for a couple of solid trades, they had no intention of staying in the trade if they didn’t get the price movement that they wanted.

They could build up some profit in the first set and then use that profit to place zero risk lays in the second set. Do the same in the third set and you can easily get the same profit as the punter but with a fraction of the stress.

The punter’s screen shot looks just as impressive.

I would much rather know what their results looked like over the previous 100 matches.

One big win proves very little.

Income Needs To Be Repeatable

If you’re trading for a bit of fun, perhaps consistency isn’t particularly important to you.

If you’re trying to create an income, it matters a lot.

You need an approach that you can use today, tomorrow and next month.

That doesn’t mean you’ll make the same amount every day. Trading doesn’t work like that.

Some days will be better than others.

Some days you’ll make very little.

There will be losing days too.

What matters is that you’re using an approach that gives you the opportunity to produce a profit over the longer term without constantly putting your trading bank at unnecessary risk.

I Don’t Want An Exciting Day

People often associate trading with excitement.

Personally, excitement is one of the last things I want.

If I’m feeling excited because I’ve got a large amount of money riding on what happens next, I’ve probably taken too much risk.

I’ve said before that a dull trading day is very often a good one.

I mean it.

I want to be calm enough to make sensible decisions.

I want to know why I’ve entered a trade, what I’m looking for and what I’m going to do if it moves against me.

That’s not particularly exciting.

Perfect.

The Occasional Big Win Is Great

Consistency doesn’t mean deliberately limiting every winning trade to the same amount.

Sometimes a match gives you more than you expected.

Perhaps you enter at an excellent price and the match moves strongly in your favour.

There may be an opportunity to stay in the trade longer than usual without taking unnecessary risk.

Take advantage of it.

There’s obviously nothing wrong with making a large profit when the opportunity naturally develops.

The important difference is that you didn’t enter the trade thinking:

“I need to make a big profit from this match.”

The opportunity created the larger profit.

You didn’t create additional risk because you wanted a larger profit.

Gambling Isn’t An Option

This becomes particularly important if you’re hoping to rely on trading for part of your income.

You can’t afford to gamble with your trading bank.

Increasing your stakes because you want to hit a particular profit target isn’t trading.

Staying in a bad position because you hope it will turn around isn’t trading.

Taking a poor opportunity because you haven’t made enough money today isn’t trading.

You’re gambling on something happening because you need it to happen.

That’s a very different mindset.

You Can’t Demand A Wage From The Market

One of the dangers of trying to make an income from trading is deciding how much money you need to make.

Perhaps you’d like to make £100 today.

There’s nothing wrong with having an idea of what a normal day’s profit might look like.

The problem starts when you’ve made £20 and decide the market owes you another £80.

It doesn’t.

You can’t create good trading opportunities simply because you need the money.

If today’s matches don’t give you the opportunities, you have to accept that.

You can have days where you made good decisions but things just didn’t go your way.

You might have had 4 losses, but they were controlled losses. It’s frustrating when that happens but your confidence is intact.

Trying to force the market to pay you a daily wage is one of the quickest ways to start making poor decisions.

Small Profits Matter

New traders sometimes underestimate the value of smaller winning trades.

They don’t look exciting.

Nobody is going to be particularly impressed by a screenshot showing a modest profit.

But those trades matter.

If you’re consistently taking sensible opportunities, controlling your losses and allowing the occasional larger profit to come when the market offers it, those smaller wins can build over time.

You don’t need every trade to be memorable.

In fact, I’d rather most of mine weren’t.

Consistency Protects Your Confidence Too

I’ve talked before about protecting your trading bank.

I mentioned confidence earlier. Protecting your confidence is just as important as protecting your bank.

If you’re constantly taking large risks, your emotions are going to move around with your results.

A big win makes you feel unbeatable.

A big loss makes you question everything you’re doing.

Neither is particularly useful.

Trading with sensible stakes and accepting normal wins and losses helps keep you on a much more even level.

That makes it easier to make good decisions.

Full-Time Trading Changed What Mattered

When trading becomes part of how you earn your living, your priorities change.

A spectacular trade isn’t particularly useful if the way you achieved it isn’t repeatable.

What matters is whether you can come back tomorrow and do the same job again.

I don’t need every day to be profitable.

I don’t need every trade to win.

And I certainly don’t need every trade to be exciting.

I need to make sensible decisions often enough that, over time, the profitable trades outweigh the losing ones.

That’s a much less glamorous way of looking at trading.

It’s also much closer to reality.

Final Thoughts

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bigger than average win.

I’ll take them whenever the market gives them to me.

But I don’t build my trading around trying to find them.

If your aim is to make a second income or eventually trade full time, consistency is far more useful than excitement.

Control your stakes.

Protect your bank.

Take the opportunities the market gives you.

Accept that some days won’t give you very much at all.

And when a bigger win comes along naturally, enjoy it.

Just don’t start gambling in an attempt to create one.

I’ve been trading tennis since 2008 and have traded professionally full-time since July 2010. My TradeShark Tennis Trading Course teaches the strategies and approach I’ve developed during that time, with an emphasis on controlling risk and building the consistency needed for long-term trading.

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