This post is going to take a look at Betfair trading strategies. For visitors who don’t know anything about Betfair never fear, because there will be some useful links to other pages on Lets Compare Bet’s explaining everything a novice needs to know about Betfair. We’re going to be talking about swing trading. Remember to generate profits, the basic rule of thumb is back high and lay low. For novices the following few links will direct readers to get Betfair explained, explain swing trading, and reveal what it means to green up on Betfair. People familiar with these topics need not click the links and can read on to get some Betfair trading strategies for UK Horse racing.

UK horse racing, football, and tennis are good sports for swing trading on Betfair. This post will cover Betfair trading strategies for UK horse racing. Swing trading strategies for trading tennis and football on Betfair will follow in later posts. To get these posts and other posts from Let’s Compare Bets subscribe using the button to the top right.

Generally speaking horse racing, football and tennis attract enough money (otherwise known as liquidity) into the market to make swing trading possible. What tends to happen with Betfair is that betting markets remain fairly illiquid up until the day of the event, unless it is a big sporting event like a large UK horse racing event or a FA cup final. When the event draws near liquidity increases dramatically as punters and other market participants (like bookmakers hedging positions) start to enter the market. In the early market, odds on Betfair can be completely different to those offered by bookmakers, because there are not enough participants and liquidity for the odds to return to normal. Experienced swing traders tend to trade with anything from one thousand pounds to three thousand pounds for back bets, and whatever the amount is required for corresponding lay bets. Liquidity is needed to ensure large bets get matched. That’s not to say the novices can’t start by betting with small stakes with the goal of building the betting bank.

Betfair trading strategies

What is swing trading on Betfair?

Swing trading is a form of trading movements in the price of something. In the context of betting on Betfair, swing trading means trading the movement in odds priced on various sporting events. Think horse races, tennis matches and soccer games. Betfair traders attempt to do what any type of trader does and that’s to make regular profits in ‘the market’. Swing trading on Betfair involves placing back and lay bets on certain selections. The key is to place a back bet at odds higher than the lay bet or vice versa. In other words back high then lay low, or lay low and back high. The result is to guarantee a profit no matter the outcome.

Swing trading on Betfair is not to be confused with Betfair scalping. A scalp would look like this (Betfair has decimal odds); back at 3.50 and lay at 3.45. Only a very small movement in the odds is required, which produces a small gain. A swing trade would be more like this; back at 3.50 and lay at 3.38. In some cases the difference between back and lay odds can be much larger, which is great, because larger differences mean bigger profits. Swing trades on Betfair involves larger movements in the odds.

swing trading on Betfair