I Am 2!!

As 'Webbgate' rumbles on over on Green All Over, and copies of 'Sultan Tennis: The Complete Moron's Guide to Trading Tennis on Betfair', now down to the last 5 limited time period only downloads, it's time to get back to writing about more important matters i.e. me!! Newer readers of Centre Court Trading possibly won't know how it all started off. It's now 2 years and just over 200,000 page hits (just 50,000 to go before the Blogger Premium Charge kicks in) since I launched the blog (here is my first ever post), so to 'celebrate' this landmark, I thought I would look back on how things have gone for me and the changes that have occurred. So I present to you the Centre Court Trading Timeline:

February - March 2011
The Dark Ages

The start of the blog heralded a period of terrible trading which still remains my worst ever time as a trader. I almost lost the plot mentally, along with my bank but escaped with many new lessons learnt.

April - May 2011
False Dawn 

Introduction of proper bank management techniques signalled an upturn in fortune, which I mistakenly believed was me becoming a consistent winner.

June - July 2011
Big Problems

Long-term loss of focus & introduction of the Super Premium Charge severely affected my trading, to the point where I had to make radical changes.

August - October 2011
Major Strategy Change

 The most important period of learning in my entire trading life. I stepped it up several gears with my work-load and fundamentally changed my entire trading ethos into what it is today. A switch was flicked!

November - December 2011
Trading Interviews

Series of interesting interviews I did with leading figures of the online trading world.

January - March 2012
The Turning Point

The new strategy and plans were finally bearing fruit as I started to become profitable.

April 2012
Psychology Sessions

A series of 'sessions' I wrote about how to deal with psychological issues in trading.

May 2012 - January 2013
Consistent Profitability

Nuff said.

Unfortunately, January 2013 has been my worst month since January 2012. Once I'd got the first week out of the way, I actually had an excellent month. I have already written about how poorly I began the new season. I ended up approximately +£500. (No screenshot this month as to be honest, I can't be bothered! But also, I don't feel it is of real interest any more, unless those profits show a significant change from what I posted last year). Considering I was -£600 at one stage, that's a pretty outstanding Australian Open I had, to turn the ship around.

Going back to 2 years ago, the most interesting thing to note is that I was trading with larger stakes and much larger liabilities than I am now (twice as big!). I am of the belief that the biggest reason why most traders fail is because they increase their stakes too soon. I was certainly a victim of that but was so badly burnt during 'The Dark Ages' of 2 years ago, that I reduced my liabilities and have never increased them back to those levels. But now I feel is the time to do so. I am ready to move to the next level and that will hopefully be with the bit of extra funding that I've lacked in order to do so. Watch this space...............

Maria Kirilenko: