Trading for a living

[Alan]

How many people on here trade regulary or for a living?
Im going to be doing another round of match betting (not done this for nearly 2 years now) to build a bank up and have a go at trading (plenty of time on my hands now).
I used to come on here alot when i was doing the match betting a while back and see a few of the old names are still around, are you guys trading now?
Ive read up plenty about trading and have practiced a bit with software ive downloaded but was wondering if anyone on here has any tips or good advice.

[SharpeShooter]

Trading is by it's nature risky and the best weapon any trader can have is knowledge. The more you know about the sport / teams / players you are trading on the better.

Always have exit points pre planned and never fail to use them. Better to take a pre determined loss than risk it all. All traders should always trade out, even if it looks like they could make more by not trading it out. It's important to get into good habits. Remember that if you are trading on live events there will always be someone who has an edge on you, unless you are actually live at the event (google courtsiding).

If you are trading pre event, never let your bet go in play unless it was intended to. Once the game starts anything can happen. Trading can be very profitable but those that make a lot of money use huge stakes on short changes. If you are trading small stakes you can make minimum wage. Loads of bots trade in £2 increments and trade all day.

Personally I don't like trading, and I'm not very good at it. I seem to always pick the wrong team or horse to steam. Ultimately it's about the long game and what you make per month / year, not per day.

[Alan]

Im surprised the sharpeShooter never mastered the trading lark, if my memory serves me correct you certainly mastered the match betting (reloads especially) and definatly helped me earn a few quid

Your right about people having an edge on live events. I was watching the snooker and betting today on eurosports live and it was definatly about a secong behind most betting that was going on.
Im not even considering throwing money at it yet and the software i use has a training mode, which is ideal really.

I do like the idea of these bots earning small amounts running for you all day and have heard people mention them a few times, but im a long long way from that.

Snooker looks like a good start with a bit of tennis and football thrown in, as these are slower than horses so less to take in i suppose.

Need a bank first and plenty of practice

[SharpeShooter]

Trading Tennis is a bit like trying to predict what will happen next. If a player is 0-40 on opponents serve you can back and lay if he breaks. Problem is if he then fails to break the odds swing will be huge. Generally a player trades lowest after winning service game so you can back before game starts and lay when 30-0 or 40-0, again risky.

Snooker odds are very gappy (except very big comps) and it's not unusual to see back odds of 1.7 with lay odds of 2.

Consider trading outright markets, so progress through a tournament. Snooker & Tennis are both good for this as you only tie up money 2 weeks max. Also Golf can offer good trading opportunities but one poor shot can see odds drift outside your trading point

[Alan]

Been watching the welsh open last few days watching the market and practicing with this new software. Your right about the gaps between the odds in play and i couldnt see how you can lock profit it regulary.
What surprised me was when a player pots an opening ball the odds drop instantly, which can give a chance for profit, however as soon as you go to click BACK there is a 5 second delay on placing your bet, but of course by then you have missed the boat because the odds have already dropped and the oppertunity has gone.
How is it possible that people can take money that fast, yet you cannot?

[Admin]

I think this is down to software like bet angel or similar. What software are you using?

[Alan]

Ive looked around the internet and the delay is down to betfair imposing a 5 second delay (different delays for different sports) until bets are matched.
This is to protect people who are offering money to the market, from people taking money as soon as something happens live on an event.
Basically it gives traders time to get their unmatched money out before everyone takes advantage. So i think this is why the money dissappears instantly.

I had a go practicing today on the snooker (im using geek toy btw) offering money to the market and trying to get out of the trade as soon as a ball is potted, missed, snookered etc.
The money is there to be made i think but im way to slow and havent really got to grips with the software to have a go with real money.

The thing thats always niggling me though is what if someone does not have this delay restriction. They would be raking in thousands of pounds a day easily, and lets face it when massive amounts of money are flying about like that corruption is never far behind.

[SharpeShooter]

Your last point is very valid and their are 'conspiracy' theories that Betfair has bots which hoover up all this type of liquidity and then offer it back to the market at the new higher or lower price.

This would be plausible and certainly possible, but judging by Betfair's share price they aren't making billions of pounds so it's probably unlikely. Now before Betfair floated? Well who knows?

[0james0]

I've been looking into this a lot recently, love the idea of it, but it is very tough, much tougher than people make it look.

http://youtu.be/L6uQOHyI1qM

[Alan]

Yeh its really hard. Ive read and watched loads of vids etc and it sounds and looks so easy, but of course its not
Im slowly making sense of it and geek toy lets you practice without using money so all it will cost you at first is time really.
I was tempted to try a long term trade on F1 with shumacher at 40s for drivers champ because the mercs look on the up again, but hes put in the fastest time on last pratice so odds dropped big. Webber looks a great price at 17, cannot see webber staying at them odds all season, especially when vettel is at 2.16 in the same car. First race is home town for web as well so a good finish should push odds down straight away.