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Can You Really Make Money Trading Tennis?

This is probably one of the most obvious questions anyone considering tennis trading will ask:

Can you actually make money doing it?

The simple answer is yes.

I’ve been trading tennis professionally since 2010, so I obviously wouldn’t still be doing it if it wasn’t possible to make money.

However, that’s very different from saying that tennis trading is easy money.

It isn’t.

Like any form of trading, there are skills to learn, mistakes to make and experience to gain.

Making Money Doesn’t Mean Winning Every Trade

One of the first things new traders need to understand is that losing trades are unavoidable.

I still have them. Anyone who tells you that they never have losing trades is having a problem with reality.

The goal isn’t to find a system that never loses. It is to make sure that, over time, your profitable trades outweigh your losses.

This is where risk management becomes so important.

A trader who makes sensible profits but regularly allows one bad trade to wipe out several good ones is going to struggle to make consistent progress.

Graph showing steady profit over time — Steady profit over time

Consistency Is More Important Than The Occasional Big Win

It’s very easy to be impressed by screenshots showing somebody making a large profit from a single match.

But one successful trade tells you very little.

What happens over the next 50 trades?

Or the next 500?

I’ve always preferred an approach based on consistency rather than trying to make a huge profit from individual matches.

That may not produce the most exciting screenshots, but it is a much more sustainable way to approach trading.

Also, if you are hoping to make a second income or maybe even a full time income, you need to control the stress that you put yourself under.

A dull day is very often a good one.

Calm trader and bet winner — Calmness allows better decisions

You Need Realistic Expectations

One of the biggest problems with anything involving betting or trading is the expectation of making large amounts of money very quickly.

If you start with that mindset, you’re likely to take too much risk.

A small trading bank isn’t suddenly going to provide you with a full-time income.

Your potential returns are influenced by the size of your bank, the amount you’re prepared to risk, the opportunities available and, most importantly, the quality of your decisions.

As your experience and trading bank grow, the amount you can potentially make can grow too.

But trying to rush that process is usually counterproductive.

Making Money And Making A Living Are Different Things

This is an important distinction.

You can become a profitable tennis trader without earning enough to give up your job.

Those are two completely different targets.

For someone starting out, the first goal should simply be learning how to trade correctly and consistently with small stakes.

Can you follow your trading plan?

Can you manage your losses? In fact, learning how not to lose is a skill that you just can’t do without.

Can you avoid forcing trades?

Can you make sensible decisions when the market moves against you?

Once you’re doing those things consistently, you have something you can build on.

Your Trading Bank Matters

The amount of money you have available obviously affects the amount of profit you can realistically make.

A trader using a £500 bank and somebody using a £10,000 bank shouldn’t expect to make the same amount of money even if they’re using exactly the same strategies.

But increasing your stakes before you have the experience to manage them isn’t the answer.

It’s much better to learn with amounts you’re comfortable with and increase your stakes gradually as your confidence and consistency improve.

I always advise new traders to start with tiny stakes. You can also paper trade but you will learn quicker if you have actual money at risk. You WILL make mistakes so it makes no sense to allow them to cost you a lot.

Experience Makes A Difference

There is no substitute for experience. No one can give you experience. They can only give you the benefit of their own experience.

When you’re new, you’ll make mistakes.

You’ll sometimes enter too early, or not at all.

You’ll exit too late.

You’ll take trades that you later realise you should have avoided.

That’s part of learning.

Over time, you begin to recognise situations you’ve seen before. Your decision-making improves and you become much more comfortable accepting that not every trade is going to work.

That experience is one of the biggest advantages a long-term trader has.

Don’t Judge Yourself On One Day

Trading results need to be viewed over a meaningful period of time.

You can trade well and lose money on a particular day.

You can also trade badly and make a profit.

Neither tells you very much on its own.

What matters is whether your approach produces positive results consistently over a much larger number of trades.

That’s why I don’t get too excited about an unusually good day or too disappointed by a poor one.

The bigger picture is far more important.

So, Can You Really Make Money Trading Tennis?

Yes.

But there isn’t a shortcut.

Successful tennis trading comes from understanding the markets, finding good opportunities, managing risk and making sensible decisions consistently.

You need to manage your stress levels so that you have a better chance of making solid decisions.

You don’t need every trade to win.

You don’t need to spend all day trading.

And you certainly don’t need to chase huge profits from individual matches.

You need an approach that works over the long term.

I’ve been using and developing my approach since finding Betfair trading in 2008. Two years later, I started trading full time. My TradeShark Tennis Trading Course teaches the strategies and principles I use, while my Trading Tips service shows how I apply my analysis to current ATP and WTA matches.

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?

Can You Really Make Money Trading Tennis? 1

Can You Really Make Money Trading Tennis? Read More »

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

TradeShark

One concern I often hear from people considering tennis trading is the amount of time they think they’ll need to spend in front of their computer.

A tennis match can easily last two or three hours. Some matches last considerably longer.

So does trading tennis mean sitting at your PC watching an entire match from the first serve until match point?

No.

One of the biggest misconceptions about tennis trading is that you need to trade the whole match.

You don’t.

You’re Trading An Opportunity, Not The Entire Match

When I enter a tennis trade, I’m looking for a particular situation to develop.

Once I’ve entered the trade, I have an idea of what I expect to happen and where I’m looking to exit.

That opportunity might only involve a small part of a match. I might even get in and out in the same game!

The match could continue for another two hours after I’ve closed my position, but that doesn’t matter. My trade is finished.

You’re not being paid according to how long you watch the match.

Know What You’re Waiting For

This is another reason why having a trading plan is so important.

If you simply open a match on Betfair and wait for something interesting to happen, you could spend a lot of time staring at your screen without achieving very much.

I prefer to know what I’m looking for beforehand.

My pre-match research helps me identify potential trading opportunities and the circumstances I’m looking for before entering the market.

If those circumstances don’t occur, I don’t have to trade.

You Don’t Need To Trade Every Match

This becomes particularly important on busy days.

There can be a dozen or more ATP and WTA matches taking place, especially during the early rounds of Grand Slam tournaments.

Trying to follow all of them would be exhausting.

More importantly, it isn’t necessary.

I would much rather concentrate on a small number of good opportunities than try to trade everything that’s available.

Being selective doesn’t just reduce the amount of time you spend at your computer. It can also improve the quality of your trading decisions.

A Three-Hour Match Doesn’t Mean A Three-Hour Trade

Let’s say you’ve identified a match that you believe offers a potential trading opportunity.

You might watch the start of the match and wait for the situation you’re looking for.

The opportunity appears.

You enter your trade.

The market moves as expected and you exit.

Your involvement in that match could be relatively short even though the players remain on court for several more hours.

There’s no reason to continue trading simply because the match hasn’t finished.

What If The Opportunity Takes A Long Time To Appear?

Sometimes it will.

Not every match develops as expected.

This is where discipline becomes important.

You don’t have to sit watching a match indefinitely just because it was on your shortlist before play started.

If the situation you’re looking for doesn’t develop, you can move on.

There will always be another opportunity.

Trading Can Fit Around Your Available Time

You also don’t have to make tennis trading an all-day activity.

Some people have jobs.

Others have family commitments.

Many simply don’t want to spend their entire day watching tennis.

That’s fine.

You can concentrate on matches taking place when you’re available and ignore the rest.

There are professional tennis tournaments taking place throughout most of the year, so you don’t need to feel that you have to take every opportunity that appears.

Preparation Can Save You Time

This is something that’s easily overlooked.

Good preparation doesn’t just help you find better trading opportunities.

It can also save you a lot of time.

If you’ve already narrowed the day’s matches down to those that interest you and you know what you’re looking for, you don’t need to spend hours jumping randomly between matches hoping to find a trade.

You can focus your attention where it’s most useful.

Final Thoughts

Tennis matches can be long, but your trades don’t have to be.

You aren’t committing yourself to watching an entire match every time you open a position.

You’re looking for a trading opportunity.

Once that opportunity has played out and you’ve closed your trade, there’s no reason you can’t switch off the match and get on with the rest of your day.

Preparation and being selective can dramatically reduce the amount of time you need to spend at your computer.

My TradeShark Tennis Trading Course teaches the strategies I use to identify specific trading opportunities rather than simply trading matches from beginning to end. My daily Trading Tips Email also highlight the matches and situations I’m interested in, saving members from having to research the entire day’s schedule themselves.