New Betfair Markets

[BinarySoft Chris]

By doing this, other backers and layers will be drawn into the market and before you know it, the market will be awash with traders.

In theory this sounds great, but in practice it doesn't quite work like that - some of the big players on Betfair have gone elsewhere for their trading because they can't get filled at a reasonable price. Having a MM posting tight spreads with decent stake sizes will get the big players back and probably attract a lot of other punters as well.

 

[LION63]

You are right and that is why I emphasised that in the worst case scenario the potential loss is £10. But guess what, tight spreads will not stop you from making losses or not getting filled. I do not know if you get involved with sports trading/betting via Betfair or not but if you do, you would have noticed the very tight spreads in the average horse race and most football matches, yet one still ends up without fills in numerous instances.

I have tried the above a few times and made a few pounds to make the exercise worthwhile but like yourself, I would love to see much more liquidity and tighter spreads. One thing I will say though, is that the current MM(s) sometimes go for too many coffee breaks or fall asleep at their desks as the prices are sometimes out of line with the market.

 

[BinarySoft Chris]

. But guess what, tight spreads will not stop you from making losses or not getting filled. I do not know if you get involved with sports trading/betting via Betfair or not but if you do, you would have noticed the very tight spreads in the average horse race and most football matches, yet one still ends up without fills in numerous instances.

This depends on if you are trying to get filled inside the spread or not! If you are happy to take up the bid or offer of the MM then you should be able to get big orders filled (assuming the MM is willing to take on the liability).

One thing I will say though, is that the current MM(s) sometimes go for too many coffee breaks or fall asleep at their desks as the prices are sometimes out of line with the market.

Well it's very likely the current bots are fully automated, the stakes they post are too small to be worthwhile for manual MM'ing.

 

[BinarySoft Chris]

Now what is to stop you from placing simultaneous bets of back at 1.88 and lay at 1.65 (abstract figures) at £10 each?

Also, the big point you are missing here is that just leaving those 2 bets on there until they are filled will usually mean that you will usually have got poor value (even if both bets were matched), because in a low liquidity market without an MM the bots that pick off other orders work on pretty wide spreads...

 

[LION63]

This depends on if you are trying to get filled inside the spread or not! If you are happy to take up the bid or offer of the MM then you should be able to get big orders filled (assuming the MM is willing to take on the liability).

With the situations I have mentioned the spreads are already at the minimum possible levels and it is thus impossible to trade within spreads. The fact that one clicks on a bid or offer does not guarantee that that quote will be there in a few seconds time, as it was pointed out earlier, there are sharp people out there who have very quick systems and software that snap up the good prices quicker than most of us can blink.

Well it's very likely the current bots are fully automated, the stakes they post are too small to be worthwhile for manual MM'ing.

Very much so but unlike some, I tend to believe that money is money and I rarely pass up free money. Sometimes little fishes are sweet.

 

[BinarySoft Chris]

With the situations I have mentioned the spreads are already at the minimum possible levels and it is thus impossible to trade within spreads. The fact that one clicks on a bid or offer does not guarantee that that quote will be there in a few seconds time, as it was pointed out earlier, there are sharp people out there who have very quick systems and software that snap up the good prices quicker than most of us can blink.

You misquoted me here - I was referring to getting filled for the "very tight spreads in the average horse race and most football matches", which I believe should be very easy.

 

[LION63]

You misquoted me here - I was referring to getting filled for the "very tight spreads in the average horse race and most football matches", which I believe should be very easy.

Apologies if I did, it was not intentional I have not managed to get the hang of quoting within posts since the site has been updated.

Nevertheless, Jules101 I must reiterate the fact that there are many times during a football match that your orders will not get filled and the same does happen for horse races. Having said that, you are right that if the tight spreads that exist in these markets were to be mirrored by the financial ones it would make life much easier. They are presently the same as the baseball market which means that unless you are watching closely or know exactly what you are doing, one is likely to end up losing more often than not.

Here are some current figures to support the argument that the spreads are too wide and the amounts available are too miniscule to justify giving Betfair financial markets too much of ones time -
Above or Below 6196 (FTSE close 6195)
Back 1.3 £11; 1.31 £7; 1.32 £5 Lay 2.0 £21; 2.8 £15 (Above)
Back 2.3 £6; 3.05 £10; 3.1 £100 Lay nil (Below)
Total matched £171
Current FTSE quote - 6250

 

[BinarySoft Chris]

Perhaps for the FTSE Daily yeah, although the spreads there are usually a bit tighter than that. However, the spreads on the hourly FTSE intras are normally much tighter and well worth a look.