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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How To Manage Risk When Trading Tennis

What Makes A Good Tennis Trading Opportunity?

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When There Are Lots Of Matches, How Do I Choose Which One To Trade?

I’m Not A Great Fan Of Tennis. Is That A Problem?

Tennis Matches Can Last For Hours. Do I Have To Sit At The PC All Day?

How Much Profit Can I Make With A £2,000 Trading Bank?

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The Biggest Mistake New Tennis Traders Make

When somebody starts trading tennis, there are plenty of mistakes they can make.

Using stakes that are too large. Staying in a trade too long. Entering at the wrong price. Chasing a loss. Trading matches they haven’t researched properly.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes myself over the years.

But if I had to pick one mistake that causes more problems for new traders than almost anything else, it would be this:

Feeling that you always need to be trading.

You Don’t Get Paid For The Number Of Trades You Make

When you first start trading, it’s tempting to think that being active is a good thing.

If there are ten matches available, you might feel that you should be trading several of them.

After all, you’re a tennis trader. Surely you’re supposed to trade?

Not necessarily.

You don’t make money simply because you have a position open in the market.

Every trade you enter exposes some of your bank to risk. If there isn’t a good reason for taking that risk, you’re not giving yourself the best chance of making a profit.

Sometimes the best trade of the day is the one you don’t make.

Not Every Match Is A Trading Opportunity

There can be dozens of tennis matches taking place during a busy tournament week.

That doesn’t mean there are dozens of good trading opportunities.

Some matches won’t suit your strategies.

Some won’t offer a good entry price.

Sometimes the match develops differently from the way you expected and the opportunity you were waiting for never appears.

That’s fine.

You don’t have to find another reason to enter the market.

There will always be another match.

Boredom Can Be Expensive

This is something that isn’t talked about enough.

Trading can be boring.

You might spend time researching matches and then discover that none of them gives you the opportunity you expected.

You might sit watching a match waiting for an entry point that never arrives.

The temptation is to do something anyway.

You start looking for a reason to trade rather than waiting for a reason to trade.

That’s a dangerous change in mindset.

Once you’ve decided that you want to trade, it’s surprisingly easy to convince yourself that an average opportunity is “worth a go”.

Trading Blind

I am a big believer in researching matches. Not everyone agrees with me.

When I started to research every match, I started to find opportunities in matches that I would previously have rejected. I also sometimes spot reasons to be careful while trading a match or even reasons to completely avoid a match.

I realise researching matches is seen as boring.

I talk to so many new traders who do little or no research before trading a match.

I can give you quick and easy methods of researching matches that take less than a minute.

Spending more time on the stats has significantly improved my results.

If you REALLY don’t want to do it, subscribe to my Trading Tips email service.

Don’t Turn A Plan Into A Prediction

Before a match starts, you might decide that you want to back or lay a player if a particular situation develops.

That’s a trading plan.

But what happens if the situation never develops?

A common mistake is to enter anyway because you’re convinced that you know what’s going to happen next.

Your trading plan has quietly become a prediction.

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion about how a match might develop. I do it all the time.

But the market still has to give me the right opportunity.

If it doesn’t, I don’t have to trade.

Missing A Trade Doesn’t Cost You Anything

New traders often worry about missing opportunities.

You watch a price move exactly as you expected and think:

“I knew that was going to happen.”

Perhaps you did.

But if you didn’t have the entry you wanted, you haven’t lost anything.

The dangerous part comes next.

You don’t want to miss the next move, so you enter too early or at a poor price.

That’s when a trade you should never have taken can start costing you money.

There will always be trades you miss.

I’ve missed thousands of them.

It doesn’t matter.

A quote that has always stuck in my mind is, “I would rather be out of a trade, wishing I was in, than being in a trade, wishing I was out”.

You Don’t Have To Win The Money Back Today

Forcing trades becomes even more dangerous after a loss.

You start the day with a losing trade and immediately want to get the money back.

So you look for another match.

Then another.

The quality of the opportunity becomes less important than the amount of money you’ve lost.

At that point, you’re no longer trading the match in front of you. You’re trading your previous result.

A loss doesn’t create a better opportunity in the next match.

Sometimes the right thing to do after a losing trade is absolutely nothing.

If the loss was a big one, you’re better taking a break. Take the dog out for an hour. Just get away from the PC. It’s a good way to avoid going on tilt in the next couple of hours.

A Quiet Day Can Be A Good Trading Day

One of the things you learn with experience is that you don’t need excitement.

You don’t need ten trades every day.

You don’t even need one trade every day.

If I finish a day having avoided several poor opportunities, I don’t consider that wasted time.

Protecting your trading bank is part of trading. Everyone knows that. But not everyone realises that protecting your confidence is just as important.

The aim isn’t to be constantly active.

The aim is to take good opportunities when they appear and leave the rest alone.

Patience Is Part Of The Strategy

Most people think of a trading strategy as a set of rules telling you when to enter and exit a market.

That’s only part of it.

Knowing when not to enter is just as important.

You can have the best strategy in the world, but if you use it in unsuitable matches or start bending the rules because you want some action, the strategy won’t protect you.

Patience isn’t something separate from your trading.

It’s part of the strategy.

Magic Exit Strategy

If you’re in a trade and the match and the market are moving against you, and you start to wonder what you should do, it’s probably too late.

It isn’t your exit trade that limits your loss.

It’s the entry.

If you enter at a bad price then you have GOT to be right. If you’re wrong, deploying the Harry Potter exit move isn’t an option.

If you consistently take good value entries, it is the entry that limits your potential loss in the current set.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of technical mistakes you can make when learning to trade tennis.

Most of them can be corrected.

The harder skill is learning that you don’t always need to be involved.

You don’t get extra points for the number of trades you make.

You don’t have to chase every price movement.

And you don’t have to make back today’s loss before the day ends.

Wait for the situations that suit the way you trade.

If they don’t appear, leave your money in your account.

It’ll still be there tomorrow.

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 a strong emphasis on selecting the right opportunities and controlling risk.

FAQ articles

Can beginners learn Tennis Trading?

Why tennis trading is lower risk than betting

Why Trading Isn’t The Same As Betting

How To Manage Risk When Trading Tennis

What Makes A Good Tennis Trading Opportunity?

How Do I Know When To Exit A Trade?

When There Are Lots Of Matches, How Do I Choose Which One To Trade?

I’m Not A Great Fan Of Tennis. Is That A Problem?

Tennis Matches Can Last For Hours. Do I Have To Sit At The PC All Day?

How Much Profit Can I Make With A £2,000 Trading Bank?

Can You Really Make Money Trading Tennis?

Why I Prefer Tennis Trading Over Football Trading