Now, I do not mean a diary where you share your private thoughts and feelings about Betfair but simply one where you keep track of your trades and how they went.

Most professional traders, including Forex traders, keep a trading diary either in hand written or electronic form and if you do not do this then I suggest you start doing so today as it can be very beneficial.

 Here are 5 ways that keeping a Betfair diary can benefit you:

1- You can see how well you are doing

 Just referring to your Betfair profit & loss is not an ideal way of tracking your progress. This only keeps track of your trading per sport when really you want to see how well each individual strategy or system is doing. Also, certain competitions within a sport might be affecting you negatively. Personally, I remember only learning from my diary that International matches always cost me when trading them so I usually stay away from those now.

2- You Can See What Works!

 You might feel that a strategy is working well for you but it is only when you look at the records that you can confirm it. The main aim of a trading diary should be to show you exactly what seems to be working and if it isn’t then you can tweak it or abandon it depending on how it is doing.

 The human brain has a way of tricking you into only remembering the positive things. So you may think that a certain sport or strategy is doing well for you since you have a few big wins on it but your diary will tell you the facts. The numbers do not like after all!

3- You Can Learn From Your Good Trades

 Sometimes I look at my trading diary and see trades that have gone really well for me. I then analyse them to see what I did well and what went in my favour. This helps me as I know that when a similar situation comes up I can remember what I did last time and try and replicate it.

4- Helps With Overall Discipline

One of the best things about keeping a trading diary is that it can stop you from doing silly things. I eliminated all the “stupid” trades out my game since I felt stupid if I had to write it up afterwards and explain why I did such a silly trade. I may only be accountable to myself but when had to actually write a stupid trade out it made me feel silly and I would be less likely to do it again. It may seem like a small thing but it helps you enormously with discipline.

5- Helps You Become A Better Trader

Overall, you will become a better trader if you keep a diary and make yourself accountable for every trade. I like to review my trades in the evening briefly and look back at what I did and what I feel can be improved. This was especially useful for me in the beginning as I very quickly eliminated all the silly moves from my trading game. I used to enjoy laying strong favourites in football matches at low odds since it does not feel like a huge cost and the odd huge win would trick me into believing I was making money from doing that. However, my diary told me different and I now only do that if I have good reason to do so.

 If you do not yet keep a trading diary, then here are 8 things you must include in a Betfair Trading Diary.