5 Betfair Trading Tips For Beginners (& Avoiding Painful Losses)

As most beginners find, learning to trade can be painful if you’re not careful. But it doesn’t have to be…

In this post we’ll take a look at a few Betfair trading tips to avoid getting burnt.

Here are my top 5 if you’re just starting out…

1) Make A Serious Decision…

Even with all the best trading tips for Betfair in the world, it’s not a get rich quick scheme.

The chances of making it pay (on a larger scale) will rely on a longer-term attitude, good risk management and some determination. The upside being; when it does pay, it’s far more than any betting system like matched betting.

A long-haul approach is wise. Jumping in straight away, with both feet will end in delivered pain.

Of course there are simple approaches that will lead to making steady returns, £10 and £20 here and there. But to make the good money it’s best to be realistic when you start, it’s all about the long-haul.

But maybe the most important of Betfair trading tips is…

2) Realise Everything Centres Around Behaviour…

What are the real reasons price moves?

The initial thing to do is look at horse racing form (or whatever other sport you’re looking to trade).

I’ll give you a clue; while the form is important, and has its place. The best moves won’t be found through being some kind of form student. You know all that crap they blab on about on the racing channels… the horse action, how it’s leg was bent etc.

It won’t tell you sod all about when the price is about to crumble. Don’t waste your time looking…

The best shifts and movements pre-race come from human behaviour. After all, the markets are about betting, not how well a horse ran *sigh* or it’s blood line *yawn*.

3) Build Strong Resources & Regularly Consume…

Seeing your serious about things, it’s best to develop some good habits early.

Build up a small but reliable resource centre to draw on. There’s a load of BS online too, so be sure to avoid that!

I’ve left a shortlist of useful resources I’d recommend at the bottom of this post.

The first stop being YouTube. It’s so much easier to learn about trading when you can see it happening in front of you. There’s also a Q & A thread once you’ve subscribed to the channel you can check out.

If you want to submit your own question you can submit it here.

In addition to YouTube, there are a few select forums to trawl through. GeeksToy and BA being the best. Be careful though, as with any forum, there’s plenty that contribute but don’t actually succeed.

Finally, the Betdaq and Betfair blogs are of use as a learning tool in places. And at least you know contributors are genuine.

4) Be Confident In Your Tools…

The Betfair website isn’t exactly trader friendly. You’ll need a half decent trading tool to use…

As seen above, I use the GeeksToy Software. There are others but I find it does all that you’ll need for manual trading. It’s important to make sure you’re happy with the software you use early on, chances are you’ll stick with it.

There are other useful tools online when it comes to making decisions, depending on your approach. There are a couple mentioned here when it comes to backing to lay in-running.

Whatever you do, make sure you can rely on the tools you use. It’s best to have a backup connection or alternative way of placing bets should your software, machine or connection fail.

There’s nothing worse than losing money that you didn’t need to…

5) Lose For Free, Win For Real…

It’d be rude not to mention this…

I’m sure plenty will ignore, but it’s good advice (particularly as you start to learn).

Training mode (shown on Geeks Toy login):

Making mistakes doesn’t have to cost you money initially. Accept you probably won’t win and give it a go.

Only one you’re seeing some kind of edge and consistency in the markets should you start to put your real money down, it’s commons sense.

You’re not here to gamble, and I’m not going to tell you to.

All of the decent software’s have a training mode function built-in, the downside being it’s not so realistic when it comes to large stakes. But that explanation will have to come another time.

Not sure what an ‘edge’ is yet? see this video from some time ago…

Betfair Trading Tips Resources: YouTube Q & A | GeeksToy Forum | Betfair Learning