1. It is easy to make money from tennis trading
This is something I've seen written on several blogs this year and is just a laughable statement. The sort of people who write this tend to fall into one of two categories: a) Inexperienced, short term winners, who have yet to go through a downswing and b) people with a system to sell. Both should be ignored in equal measure. As with trading of any sort, it IS easy to make money short term - it's just as easy to lose it. Long term consistency is all that matters and that is most definitely not easy in tennis.
2. Just keep laying low and you will make money
This is something that has crept into forums and blogs over the past year or so, with the rise of popular strategies which promote laying at low odds. The problem with that, is that if you are not picking the right matches, you are on the road to a long, slow destruction of your bank, as it's very easy to go on huge losing streaks. Yes, your liability is low but once these small losses mount up, you'll soon get into a sticky position. I see a lot of people on Twitter who see a low price and will just automatically lay it, without thinking whether it is value or not. Laying at 1.10 is only slightly less stupid than backing at 1.10 if there is no reasoning or value behind it.
3. WTA is a lottery and should be kept away from
This is becoming more and more of a rarity these days, as traders are waking up to the fact that trading women's tennis has nothing to do with the standard of play. You'll still see novices complaining about the 'lottery' of WTA, usually because they have backed the fave and are upset because they didn't train to 1.01. Others are shocked at the swings that occur in WTA, moaning that the matches aren't as predictable as the men's game. These people haven't yet worked out that the swings are what make WTA so great to trade - you just have to figure out how to be on the right side of them. If you know that WTA tends to have a lot of swings, then surely that then makes it predictable?
4. You cannot beat the courtsiders, so in-play trading isn't worth it
Another common misconception. Courtsiders have a small advantage in that they have a couple of extra seconds to place their bets, than the rest of us. That means they can take advantage of any money left in the market after a point has ended. The way to avoid being 'hoovered up' by courtsiders is simple - don't leave your money in the market whilst the point is being played! It's really not difficult. I never get my money taken in this manner - ever. Yet it is startling the amounts that are left up and then hoovered away by courtsiders. It's pure stupidity if you lose money this way and no point complaining. I'm actually not convinced the hoovering is all the work of courtsiders, as it is often so quick off the mark that it can surely only be the work of people who can actually beat the 5 second delay.......but that's for another post!
5. Tennis markets are too volatile and too risky to get involved with in-play
This is something I see written by traders of other, less dynamic trading sports, such as football. The swings scare them because they aren't used to them. However, once you understand how to use them to your advantage, it's no more risky than being on the wrong side of a goal in football; in fact, at least with tennis, you know when a point is likely to result in a huge swing. In football, goals can take you completely by surprise and once you are on the wrong end of one, it's usually very difficult to turn things around. Not so with tennis, where points come along regularly.
6. ATP is easier to trade than WTA
Another classic novice misconception. Men's matches tend to be less volatile (though not always) because they hold serve more often than women. Because of this, newbie traders feel that ATP is 'safer' and they are less likely to get caught on the wrong end of a swing. However, when you do get a break of serve in ATP, the swings are usually much bigger and will hurt you more than a WTA swing, if you are on the wrong end. It's not easier to trade at all, just different. Many traders will argue WTA is in fact easier to trade and I wouldn't disagree. It's very hard these days to make money from backing the server, as the markets have wised-up in recent years to this strategy, which is popular with newbies. But if it's swings you are after, nothing beats WTA.
7. Only the Grand Slams, Masters 1000s and Premier Events are worth trading
Some traders prefer to only trade the bigger events, with the best players enrolled. ATP 250s and WTA International events are often ignored. Whilst I understand this if you need extremely high liquidity or if you don't know the lesser ranked players (or if you've got to a level where you don't need to trade every week), that still doesn't mean it's right to say they are not worth trading. Liquidity these days is good enough for the vast majority to get matched, especially at the latter stages of tournaments. Not knowing the players is only an excuse up to a point. These lower ranked players will still occasionally pop up at bigger events through qualification/wildcards, or will be youngsters who eventually go on to higher rankings. In my opinion, if you want to trade tennis seriously, you should be watching these lesser events as if you were scouting; these are players who could be in tournaments you want to trade, one day. 90% of my research is watching matches and getting to know my players. The more you know, the more events you can trade - why shut off over 50% of the tennis calendar? A lot can be learnt and much profit gained from these smaller events.
8. The top players don't try as hard in smaller tournaments, so you should stay away from them
A bit of an over-exaggeration for the most part. Whilst it is true that sometimes, a big name will not be playing at their very best in a smaller event (preferring to save themselves for a bigger one that may be close by), for the most part, these lesser tournaments are won by a top player (if one has entered). You are more likely to get an upset in these smaller events but as long as you understand the motivation behind every player, there is no reason to stay away from any tournament. In fact, if you do your research, it can open up great opportunities to oppose favourites. Besides, if you are bothered because you want to back short-priced favourites all the time, then you are not really trading properly.
9. You don't need much tennis knowledge to make money from tennis trading
I've read this a few times, mostly in the blurb for guides that, you've guessed it, want our money! They try to make trading seem as easy as possible to the average layman and this is a sneaky way of sucking people in. Most people don't have much tennis knowledge and neither did I until I started to trade. Whilst you don't need to understand your forehand top-spin lobs from your sliced back-hand drop-shots, you most certainly need to understand the differences between the surfaces, the tournaments and know your players. If you are just blindly following a system that is mechanically set out, then maybe you can get away with a limited knowledge. However, I don't know anyone who makes money long term doing this because if they are, it means they've found the 'holy grail' - and we all know that this doesn't exist. There has to be some process of selecting which matches to trade and at what points and in order to do this, you need a solid knowledge of tennis. Don't get me wrong, knowing every minute detail of the ATP tour is not going to make you money alone. I think this is something a lot of traders get wrong. They think the more they know, the better they will get - it's not true. It'll help but if you don't understand the markets or have the right mentality, it counts for nothing.
10. I eeeerrr, couldn't actually think of a 10th one! Instead, I'll add a general trading myth:
You need a big bank to make money.
I think I've disproved that on this very blog this year. The more I watch the markets, the more I'm convinced that there are hundreds of traders out there who are playing around with stakes far in advance of their actual skill-level. You only have to read some of the comments on Twitter and see the amounts getting matched at silly prices or left up haphazardly to be hoovered, to see that stake size does not always correspond to brain size!
Daniela Hantuchova:
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This is something I've seen written on several blogs this year and is just a laughable statement. The sort of people who write this tend to fall into one of two categories: a) Inexperienced, short term winners, who have yet to go through a downswing and b) people with a system to sell. Both should be ignored in equal measure. As with trading of any sort, it IS easy to make money short term - it's just as easy to lose it. Long term consistency is all that matters and that is most definitely not easy in tennis.
2. Just keep laying low and you will make money
This is something that has crept into forums and blogs over the past year or so, with the rise of popular strategies which promote laying at low odds. The problem with that, is that if you are not picking the right matches, you are on the road to a long, slow destruction of your bank, as it's very easy to go on huge losing streaks. Yes, your liability is low but once these small losses mount up, you'll soon get into a sticky position. I see a lot of people on Twitter who see a low price and will just automatically lay it, without thinking whether it is value or not. Laying at 1.10 is only slightly less stupid than backing at 1.10 if there is no reasoning or value behind it.
3. WTA is a lottery and should be kept away from
This is becoming more and more of a rarity these days, as traders are waking up to the fact that trading women's tennis has nothing to do with the standard of play. You'll still see novices complaining about the 'lottery' of WTA, usually because they have backed the fave and are upset because they didn't train to 1.01. Others are shocked at the swings that occur in WTA, moaning that the matches aren't as predictable as the men's game. These people haven't yet worked out that the swings are what make WTA so great to trade - you just have to figure out how to be on the right side of them. If you know that WTA tends to have a lot of swings, then surely that then makes it predictable?
4. You cannot beat the courtsiders, so in-play trading isn't worth it
Another common misconception. Courtsiders have a small advantage in that they have a couple of extra seconds to place their bets, than the rest of us. That means they can take advantage of any money left in the market after a point has ended. The way to avoid being 'hoovered up' by courtsiders is simple - don't leave your money in the market whilst the point is being played! It's really not difficult. I never get my money taken in this manner - ever. Yet it is startling the amounts that are left up and then hoovered away by courtsiders. It's pure stupidity if you lose money this way and no point complaining. I'm actually not convinced the hoovering is all the work of courtsiders, as it is often so quick off the mark that it can surely only be the work of people who can actually beat the 5 second delay.......but that's for another post!
5. Tennis markets are too volatile and too risky to get involved with in-play
This is something I see written by traders of other, less dynamic trading sports, such as football. The swings scare them because they aren't used to them. However, once you understand how to use them to your advantage, it's no more risky than being on the wrong side of a goal in football; in fact, at least with tennis, you know when a point is likely to result in a huge swing. In football, goals can take you completely by surprise and once you are on the wrong end of one, it's usually very difficult to turn things around. Not so with tennis, where points come along regularly.
6. ATP is easier to trade than WTA
Another classic novice misconception. Men's matches tend to be less volatile (though not always) because they hold serve more often than women. Because of this, newbie traders feel that ATP is 'safer' and they are less likely to get caught on the wrong end of a swing. However, when you do get a break of serve in ATP, the swings are usually much bigger and will hurt you more than a WTA swing, if you are on the wrong end. It's not easier to trade at all, just different. Many traders will argue WTA is in fact easier to trade and I wouldn't disagree. It's very hard these days to make money from backing the server, as the markets have wised-up in recent years to this strategy, which is popular with newbies. But if it's swings you are after, nothing beats WTA.
7. Only the Grand Slams, Masters 1000s and Premier Events are worth trading
Some traders prefer to only trade the bigger events, with the best players enrolled. ATP 250s and WTA International events are often ignored. Whilst I understand this if you need extremely high liquidity or if you don't know the lesser ranked players (or if you've got to a level where you don't need to trade every week), that still doesn't mean it's right to say they are not worth trading. Liquidity these days is good enough for the vast majority to get matched, especially at the latter stages of tournaments. Not knowing the players is only an excuse up to a point. These lower ranked players will still occasionally pop up at bigger events through qualification/wildcards, or will be youngsters who eventually go on to higher rankings. In my opinion, if you want to trade tennis seriously, you should be watching these lesser events as if you were scouting; these are players who could be in tournaments you want to trade, one day. 90% of my research is watching matches and getting to know my players. The more you know, the more events you can trade - why shut off over 50% of the tennis calendar? A lot can be learnt and much profit gained from these smaller events.
8. The top players don't try as hard in smaller tournaments, so you should stay away from them
A bit of an over-exaggeration for the most part. Whilst it is true that sometimes, a big name will not be playing at their very best in a smaller event (preferring to save themselves for a bigger one that may be close by), for the most part, these lesser tournaments are won by a top player (if one has entered). You are more likely to get an upset in these smaller events but as long as you understand the motivation behind every player, there is no reason to stay away from any tournament. In fact, if you do your research, it can open up great opportunities to oppose favourites. Besides, if you are bothered because you want to back short-priced favourites all the time, then you are not really trading properly.
9. You don't need much tennis knowledge to make money from tennis trading
I've read this a few times, mostly in the blurb for guides that, you've guessed it, want our money! They try to make trading seem as easy as possible to the average layman and this is a sneaky way of sucking people in. Most people don't have much tennis knowledge and neither did I until I started to trade. Whilst you don't need to understand your forehand top-spin lobs from your sliced back-hand drop-shots, you most certainly need to understand the differences between the surfaces, the tournaments and know your players. If you are just blindly following a system that is mechanically set out, then maybe you can get away with a limited knowledge. However, I don't know anyone who makes money long term doing this because if they are, it means they've found the 'holy grail' - and we all know that this doesn't exist. There has to be some process of selecting which matches to trade and at what points and in order to do this, you need a solid knowledge of tennis. Don't get me wrong, knowing every minute detail of the ATP tour is not going to make you money alone. I think this is something a lot of traders get wrong. They think the more they know, the better they will get - it's not true. It'll help but if you don't understand the markets or have the right mentality, it counts for nothing.
10. I eeeerrr, couldn't actually think of a 10th one! Instead, I'll add a general trading myth:
You need a big bank to make money.
I think I've disproved that on this very blog this year. The more I watch the markets, the more I'm convinced that there are hundreds of traders out there who are playing around with stakes far in advance of their actual skill-level. You only have to read some of the comments on Twitter and see the amounts getting matched at silly prices or left up haphazardly to be hoovered, to see that stake size does not always correspond to brain size!
Daniela Hantuchova:
