Imagine being able to stay at home all day and watch sports for a living…
That is no doubt the dream job for millions of people all around the world, so let’s take a look a bit more.
What is a Sports Trader?
A sports trader is someone that looks to make money trading the sports betting exchanges. It is very similar to the stock market in that you can buy and sell positions.
In the world of sports betting exchanges, this is called backing (buying) and laying (selling). It allows multiple different ways to approach sports trading when compared to traditional sports betting.
Most people are familiar with sports betting and there are many known professional sports bettors. However, there are also many people making a living as professional sports traders.
How to Become a Full-Time Sports Trader?
The most important aspect of becoming a full-time sports trader is developing an edge. An edge is the reason that you make money from the markets. Trading edges can be found in any sport and different sports have different trading characteristics.
- Football
- Horse Racing
- Cricket
- Tennis
Above are the most popular sports on Betfair and all betting exchanges. If your long-term goal is to become a full-time sports trader then developing edges in these markets is advisable.
The reason for this is that these sports attract the most money. In order to be able to trade professionally you need two things.
- Regular events
- Liquidity (money matched in the market)
For example, you may be an expert in the sport of boxing. Whilst you can definitely make money betting/trading boxing, you would struggle to do this full-time due to the lack of regular events.
Sure Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua fights attract millions of pounds in trading money however big boxing fights only happen every few months.
Whilst sports such as horse racing and football have multiple races/matches every single day. This means that you have much more opportunity to execute your edges in the market and therefore make money.
How to Develop a Trading Edge:
Developing a profitable trading edge is the key to becoming a full-time sports trader!
In all honesty, this will not happen overnight. It will take time and you will need to study if you really want to make an income from trading on the betting exchanges.
Key factors to consider are:
- Specializing in one sport (Easier to master one sport than juggling your time between multiple).
- Spend time learning and understanding the markets.
- Find your trading style (Scalping, swing trading, focus on pre-match or live betting etc).
- Invest in a course to speed up the learning process
- Join a community of sport traders
Want to learn more about sports trading? Check out the link below.