Of all the ways to trade Betfair, anticipation and reacting to short-term changes have to be the simplest…
Wherever we go in life, whatever we do, change means opportunity – Betfair trading is no different!
Betting on Breaking News: Your Advantage…
We’ll look at a few examples in a second, but it’s important that we don’t approach this with limited thinking. There are many angles to take and many sources to utilize here. It’s not just the traditional media.
Information on-course, via social media, weather updates, and betting activity within the market can all offer new information. That last one can be particularly powerful. As the saying goes – money talks.
Did you know the British Horse Racing Authority offers regular course updates on their site?
It’s worth putting that one in your bookmarks…
Obviously, it’s all relative to what you’re trading. Courtsiders beating bet delays aren’t going to be so bothered about the weather. Pre-race traders looking for a mid-morning price shift, however, will.
Assuming you’re more likely to be trading from home, there are a few suggestions here…
Sources To Look Out For:
This isn’t supposed to be an exhaustive list, but here are a few sources that have proven to be useful when it comes to changing prices. When you stop to think about it, most of them are quite obvious. Taking a few moments to set up notifications and additional feeds for them is worthwhile, although very few do it.
On-Course Live Shows
There are a bunch of different places you can get this information, but the bookmaker’s on-course feeds are worth watching in the final 10 minutes counting down to each race. Why? Because they often take large bets and hedge on the exchange.
Seeing a price crash on-course before the exchange has moved can be extremely useful. The sporting life and various other sources share this information.
Live Streaming
An obvious one, but if you’re serious about trading – you must have a live video feed. Over the years these have changed a lot, and no doubt they will in the future. However, the streams have never been as instantaneous as they are today. Betfair live video is plenty good enough for a responsive stream.
I’ve used many different services over the years and it’s far better than the huge delay that once existed. If a horse plays up at the start and unships its the jockey, there’s some easy money to be made there quite quickly.
Course Updates
This one’s more useful for trading the morning shows and that segment up to the live show. It’s a good idea to create a separate Twitter account, only for subscribing to individual race tracks, course clerks, and the met office. How far you go is up to you, but if you’re trying to balance life with other drama it can be helpful to flick on the push notifications via phone.
As always, getting key information as it is released gives you a headstart on everyone else. In the right instances, this one can give you a few easy ticks profit at super-low risk.
Exchange Markets
This one, unsuprisingly, is my favorite. It’s not the easiest to interpret for beginners though. Keeping an eye on exchange trading volumes, outliers taking money and disproportionate amounts of money is very telling. Particularly if you’re looking at the right time of day.
Focusing on those ill-informed and sensitive parts of the day where bookmakers don’t like to take a bet is ideal. All weather racing and low-quality affairs will give the most price movement. The downside is the accompanying liquidity at those venues.
Weather Changes
Does this one need much explanation? As mentioned above, it’s worth checking out the BHA updates but also the met office and local tracks feed.
An important point to make here is; it’s the change in public perception that will cause odds movement, not the actual weather change. Drastic weather changes and differing going changes will have a bigger impact. Slight changes may have none at all.
Multiple Runner Entries
There are so many different influences that could be listed but I’m putting this one up to show you how I’m thinking here.
When a prominent trainer or jockey has multiple runners in a day, and several of them win, the last horse’s price will change. The reason is somewhat obvious – the financial liabilities via multiples.
By keeping an eye out on the daily entries, it’s easy to spot one coming. It’s one of those things that won’t give you a bumper trade every day, although when it does, the return can be pretty big. Especially if it’s on a big race day and the media notice it too!
Again, being first is where the most value is at.
If you want to see a few simpler approaches, take a look at the article linked below!