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Horse racing going from good to better this afternoon - hope you are all filling your boots - i know i am

note to self - must stay disciplined!!!!!

Been out all day so missed the racing. Sounds like a better day than the last couple of days. At least I found them hard anyway.

I know it's been said before but this issue of discipline is the single most important factor in trading Betfair, just as it is in the stockmarket. Many people talk about finding an edge, that je ne sais quoi that gives you an advantage over others. For most of us on Betfair I think that is discipline.
If I had maintained 100% discipline since I started I would have made a small fortune. As it is, my gains are more moderate, although still fantastically good.

There must be thousands of punters on Betfair who haven't had the benefit of having discipline rammed down their throats as one does when trading the stockmarket. Many of them probably don't even know that it is discipline that causes them to lose, not necessarily their poor selection of horses or whatever.

It took me years to learn the stockmarket and there is still more I don't know, than I know. Yet with Scrip's course and a little help from Fundy I am up and running in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

Now I know the theory. I've just written about it. Now I have to put it into practice. :-)

I am considering enrolling with Betfair - who offer a 20 bonus to anyone with a betfair account who recommends somebody (ie ME). You should have a unique referral code somewhere to give to me to enrol with. After that, once I've spent/bed 100.00 both you and I get a 20.00 Bonus each and promise of future bonuses!

Seems a shame not to take advantage of their offer - Any takers?

Yes! 3L3QNUVKN :-)

Shouldn't have gone for my tea. :-)

Kayak

you're slipping on the free money - it took you 11 mins to reply :-)

Several days away but my new 3G/GPRS card meant hotel room evenings were brighter and profitable :-)) Just looking at CMC's FTSE 100 and the real figure. Often they are not even close. I believe CMC use a weighted current/futures figure? Any views on how good a predictor the CMC figure is of movement in the real figure?

Kernow, I'd wondered about the CMC FTSE figures too but not realy been able to make anything of it Whenever I look CMC seems to be below the cash price but I thought the futures price was always higher due to 'time value of money'. I believe the norm for the spreadbetting co's is to skew the pirce in the direction of the current movement

ilanderton - it is generally true that the ftse future trades at a premium to the cash, but sometimes it trades at a discount, as with the current march 05 contract.

A 'fair premium/discount' can be calculated, which takes into account interest rates, dividend expectations, etc. On top of that there is an element of traders' expectations. There is also a time element: the closer you get to the expiry of the futures contract, the nearer its value will be to the cash.

Once the underlying markets have closed, ie ftse constituents at 16.30, and futures at 17.30, CMC et al have a choice of closing their offerings, or keeping them open, but basing prices on what is happening in related markets (the US), or how their clients are betting. As is often noted on this BB, the overnight direction of the Dow frequently has no apparent correlation with the next morning's ftse behaviour.

kernow, 'cash' in the description of indices from CMC and other spreadbetters means settled at the end of the current day rather than on a futures expiry day. It doesn't mean that it is the actual cash index. It basically follows the future with a fixed bias for the day. You can see this by opening a window for both the cash and one or more of the futures. CMC could not have an instrument being the actual cash index because people would arbitrage it with the future.

I find CMC pretty good 95% of the time as the poor man's future.

Betfair seemed to crash for me at 16:15, No response from API or nothing. Still not working at 16:20? Anybody else experiance this. Was going to be my move of the day.

Still no sign of life at 16:30

mine is down too, and i have a open ftse position , :-(

Give them a call the phone lines are working. As long as your stake is over 50 you can phone it through.

We appear to be back.

shogun are you on BT?

Reason for asking is I've had a flurry of phone calls and it appears all BT users were down the only one I know on AOL was still up apparantly.

scripophilist yes i am on BT but everything else was working and that is also on bt,

bet went ok i was on close below 4850

It's a weird one, got somebody on the phone to Betfair to ask what was going on. Betfair access but nothing else appears to have gone AWOL for BT users. Very, very, strange.

I watched this on ATR today, was hilarious. Red hot favourite doesn't even trouble the field and was a heavy drifter in the market. Of course I and no doubt others would have spotted this and taken advantage.

Suddenly everybody starts asking questions and Curley starts mouthing off on camera about how wrong it is that he is being accused. Towards the end of the altercation McCririck says to Barney, "So your horse is a heavy odds on favourtie. Did you back it?" Silence then "No..." bumbling excuses follow. John should have asked, did you lay it? Would have been a better question.

A fantasic opporunity for the asute but a bummer for favourite backers.

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http://www.racingpost.co.uk/news/rp_std_page.sd?psection=racingpost.co.uk&page=latest17

Curley furious after Cristoforo defeat

BARNEY CURLEY was involved in a heated on-air exchange with racing pundit John McCririck after the defeat of the Newmarket trainer's Cristoforo at Folkestone on Friday.

Curley appeared on At The Races following his horse's disappointing runin the Association Of Post Natal Illness Handicap Hurdle.

Cristoforo, who was forecast to be a hot favourite, drifted on the betting exchanges throughout the morning and also eased in the on-course market.

The eight-year-old was never travelling well for Paul Moloney and was pulled up before the final flight.

McCririck believed the matter should have been referred to the Jockey Club for investigation by the local stewards.

He and presenter Luke Harvey discussed the performance on TV, and were then involved in an altercation with an irate Curley.