Trading Betting Options at BetFair ideal for Horse Racing and Football

Trading at Betting Exchanges

We recently looked at how to lay a bet with betting exchange BetFair, and in that guide, we briefly touched upon the value which can be found in Trading. Here is a more in depth look at this aspect of betting, in which the key element is creating yourself a no-risk bet in terms of liability. What you are trying to do with Trading is equalise your wagers, so that your potential profit from backing a selection, is more than the liability you would pay out if your backing of a selection fails. There’s a lot to study on Trading, and it is not immediately one of the easiest genres to fall into, but it extremely good to have a working knowledge, so that you can spot an opportunity to use it to your advantage.

So what is Trading? Well, it is not the commonly financial markets which spring to mind (although it is the same principle), but it is more about the prediction of how odds on a sporting event will. Will the price of a team start to lengthen a bit as it gets closer to kick off. A better example would be found in horse racing really, where prices to rapidly change right up until the horses take the tape. One of the beauties of being able to bet online, is that you can search for great ante post prices (early market bets) which really provide you with a good guideline for value. However, when trading, you are specifically not  looking for the biggest price to land, you want to look at short priced odds which will then drift away come the start of the race. Let’s say just for example that Kauto Star was priced for a race at 2.0 (Evens in fractional terms), but you think that the price is going drift out for some reason come the start of the race, then there is potential profit here. The shorter the price on a horse the better for trading here on Kauto Star, because you want to Lay Odds on him, instead of backing. Refer to our How To Lay a Bet guide for more information on Laying Bets, but basically you want to place a wager which states that Kauto Star will NOT win the race. This is what Laying a Bet means, and the shorter the odds are when you do this, the less risk you have in terms of placing a large stake for smaller profit. The shorter the odds, the ratio of stake to profit changes in your favour. However, this is just part one of Trading, because as stated above, you believe that the actual starting price is going to drift. Now, when watching the markets, it does drift out, that is when you would Back the same horse (stating that it WILL win) for the bigger odds. Now you have two bets on the same outcome of the race, and you are betting risk free by Trading on those odds.

Risk free, you say? Yes, because you first Lay a Bet that Kauto Star would lose at short odds, and then Backed Kauto Star to win at longer odds. It therefore does not matter what the outcome of the race is, you will win, therefore there is no risk. If Kauto Star wins the race, you’ll take the profit at the longer odds, if he loses, then you’ll still will not have lost anything. Trading therefore captures the area of difference between the two prices taken, and the outcome of the race really has no bearing on the Trader. With an option available on BetFair to close out odds before an event has finished, there’s no need to endure the entire race if you don’t want to. Football trading systems work equally as well, but naturally may take a little longer to really earn your profit. One of the most popular markets to back in football betting, is the Draw. You can usually find this around 3.5 decimal odds as an average, so there is potential for good profit there. Remember to always try and back up your Trading strategy with statistics. Look for teams which draw a lot of matches, and the closely contested battles are usually easy to pick out on a football coupon. However, because you can never be sure of which way a match may go, as someone could always sneak a winner, by Trading, you can cover your bases a little bit. For Football trading, you could for example Back the Draw because it is standing at a decent profit, and as soon as any team does score, then naturally the price will shorten because its outcome has less chance of happening than at kick off. So, Back the Draw and study the game in play. If the two sides are still level heading towards half time, the odds will probably be shorter than what you started at. This makes it a good time to Lay the Draw at the same stake, with the intention of creating a Green Book, that state of being a winner no matter the outcome of the match.

It really doesn’t matter too much which way around you do things. There is only one principle to stick to, and that is Back High, Lay Low. On BetFair, with Trading, it provides a very important factor, and that is clearing your liability. You liability is how much you stand to lose when Laying a Bet, essentially how much you have to risk to win the Backer’s Stake (which is the profit you are aiming for when Laying a Bet). Because your Profit and Loss equates out to a Green book, because the amount you would win on Backing the Bet covers your liability, then money is not tied up from your account. If you were to just Lay a selection, then the money is automatically held from your BetFair account, because this is your liability, what you stand to lose. As you have no liability when covering yourself with Trading, then no money is taken and you are free to go on and have more bets instead of having money tied up. This is another good advantage of learning Trading system. One piece of advice would be to go into Trading on BetFair with a solid strategy. There will be times though that you may need to make a snapshot judgement call and be flexible, but watch for trends ahead of time, and practice a few times by sketching out Trading before actually taking the plunge. If you spot a trend of a horse drifting out, then take note. If you see a big trend for a drawn match in football, go with some kind of certainty into your Trading. Plan your strategy well, and perhaps most importantly of all, have patience as you go. Doing your sports betting at BetFair really opens up new doors of opportunity for your betting and they are well worth holding an account with.

BetFair offer a £25 No Risk Bet
when you open an account with them, and the award winning site is immensely popular, plus they have updated features such as their live in play and live streaming service. They offer a great alternative to traditional online bookmakers, and are well worth spending time with. Be sure to check their guides for further information on Betting on the Exchange, as this will help you get a feel for the operation of Laying, Backing and Trading at BetFair.

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