How would you like to trade a market where you get large regular price swings every 10 minutes in the afternoon, seven days a week. A
market where all prices are set purely by supply and demand, few transaction costs, no middle men and you only pay commission if you win? Where you can freely act as a market maker and where you have direct market access and where you can create a spread for others to take?

Betfair has revolutionised the betting market and created an open platform for exchanging risk on sports events. This market is now viewed much more like a traditional financial risk market than an old fashioned betting market. Smart users have realised that there are huge opportunities on Betfair because they can buy and sell risk in much the same way they would in a normal financial market but without the burden of cost or the restricted access that is usually associated with traditional financial markets.

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John

Austrian (champions i think)- not played a competitive game since mid December

they lost to both rangers and liverpool earlier this yr

game is live on channel 5 followed by the newcastle game

Thanks for that Steve. I'll do a bit of research.

If anyone is after some adrenaline busting movements with odds take a look at darts, Taylor v Dudbridge. I haven't a clue with the scores but have piled up a big profit on Taylor if he holds on to win and no loss if he loses

Taylor has just won and I've just bagged a huge wad of cash for only 15 mins work.

If I get more moments like this then the day job can take a hike!

Tread carefully bakko. At one stage I was winning so often that I thought I couldn't lose. All I had to do was place a trade and I would win. Came down to earth with a bit of a bump!

Well done on the darts.

Harlosh,

Thanks for sound advice. I've come a cropper a couple of times and I constantly try to remind myself not overtrade which I find that I can easily do once I'm on a rich vein of gains.

I welcome your earlier post regarding being disciplined whether trading on the markets or betfair. The exact rules apply.

With Scrip's course just round the corner, those attending, after reading about some of our big gains will probably be desperate to join in the fun. I can definitely confirm that it's not as easy as the posts make them to be. Although, the gains are very possible, I and other regular contributors on this thread do lose quite often. It's all too easy to publicise the gains rather than the loses.

Harlosh/Bakko, thank you for that piece of advice.

D

Sound advice guys

ill share a little horror story for you - last night i had just opened a large trade when my missus called me in a flap - she was stranded at night in the middle of nowhere with her car having broke down. I immediately rushed out, completely forgetting i had just opened a trade. when i came home i couldnt work out initially why my balance on betfair was a lot lower than i thought it was!!!!

sorry to hear that Fundy.

Nicely profitable volatility in the FTSE 10-11 due to the auction. Lots of "WTF was that" posts on Betfair :-)

I was watching that too. Quite funny.

Stupid bloody trade I played last night on the Middlesborough game. Backed them 100 at about 1.25. 2 minutes later GAK equalised. 100 risk for potential 25 gain.
The percentage bet would have been to back the draw at 5's I think. 100 risk for 400 gain.
So instead of winning 400, I lost 100.

Doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fundy, Sorry to hear of your horror story.

Whilst we're still on the subject I'll share a couple of my horrors.

I had a position on Aus/Windies one day game which started to look decidedly unhealthy as the match progressed. Rather than accept a loss I chased it and ended up with a potentially huge loss. At that point I switched off and went to work feeling like a bag of s..t. Later on in the morning and to my delight the match was abandoned and all bets were cancelled. Massive sigh of relief!!

Well, not such a horror story, you're asking yourselves. You'd thought I'd be learning from this potentially disasterous trade. After all, the alarm bells were on full volume!

Nope, so muggings here is on a football game now and the same scenario applies. On a losing position with less than a few mins to the final whistle I decide to try and cancel this by switching over to the other team. An injury time goal is scored and I end up losing five times more than I'd have lost originally. Of course I was sicker than the proverbial parrot!! But I use this as a constant reminder not to overtrade and to keep my feet firmly on the ground.

For those of you on Scrip's course next week I'm certain he'll be stressing the importance of discipline and money management. He'll also give you statistics on goals scored at the end of a game. The numbers will surprise you!

Interesting gentlemen, I'm grateful to you all for sharing your experiences. I apply it to my trading (can't help it, I've got a sign one inch high stuck to my screen saying 'Money Management?') and I am looking forward to next week to hear how Scrip will tell me to apply it to the betting market.

D.

PS- I took Foale's advice and opened an account with Betfair with 50. It increased to 131 two weeks ago. Last week my account stood at 0.23p. I got so excited winning I overtraded several times over.

D.

Great stuff guys thank you all for your contributions it has been really useful, I am really looking forward to the course next week.

Been tinkering on Betfair in preparation and like others have found the primary challenge to be managing myself. There is always a better price, more money etc etc and you can easily get sucked in and forget your plan and discipline. I also notice that when I tried to be too clever I just got confused and only got bailed out by complete luck

One area that I don't like it that my returns are small relative to the risk, this can make it quite hairy at times. I've watched alot of sport recently and the unexpected happens alot, I never really considered it before but when you see the risk and probability in front of you as a number, you begin to appreciate the element of the incalculable in events where humans are involved.

Roll on next wednesday

F

"you begin to appreciate the element of the incalculable in events where humans are involved."

I'll show you how to make it calculable! Sort of. Well at least you will know about know the future even if you are not sure how it will arrive!!

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The FTSE today has been hilarious. The options expiry was great and the economic figures were great too. Will the auction go the same way?

Late starts of the horses are messing things up over there.

bakko,

Been in the position myself of chasing a loss and scaring myself to death with huge potential losses, albeit remote, if it went against me.

When buying and selling stocks I only began to make money when I learned to take a loss and feel satisfied at doing so. For some reason I am finding that much more difficult to do on Betfair. The mentality is different. Perhaps it is because it is more like real cash in the Betfair account.

Like a carpenter who hasn't hit his thumb with a hammer, you have not reached the top as a trader until you can walk away from a losing trade and accept it as part of the job.

Losses will always be a part of this game. I just have to learn to accept that and keep them as small as possible. The profit potential on Betfair is HUGE but only if you stick to your game plan.

I think the trouble is nobody actually does become disciplined till they lose a wedge. That appears to be the only way to achieve "nirvana".

Just gone green on Lyon and Preston footy matches.

Had a good day on the FTSE today - but just gave it all back on the football.

Arsenal match

A goal for Arsenal would see them jump to 1.10ish. Be careful with the draw a 1-0 Arsenal lead will see the draw odds double but if it stays 1-0 the draw will go in a retrograde pattern (I.e. chances of a draw improve and the price comes in).