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30 Saturday, May 7, 2011 racingpost.com/mobile Racing Post S

GUIDE TO TRADINGCARD AND SPOTLIGHT, PAGE ??ADVERTISING FEATURE

Specialist software can beinvaluable tool for trading

W ELCOME to ournew series offeatures ontrading. Lastyear we covered

the basics, but over the nextten weeks we will be drillingdown into more detail withparticular attention given tostrategies you can adopt whentrading.

Trading is a different way ofgambling compared to thetraditional outright bettingoften employed by mostpunters. Traders aim to lock ina profit by betting on themovement of price similar to afinancial trader, where theoutcome of the event isirrelevant as a gain or loss hasalready been made before thefinal result. For example, if youback a horse pre-race at 3.0 for£100 and then lay the samehorse at 2.9 for £103.45 thiswill secure a profit of £3.45whether the horse wins orloses.

Before we go on tostrategies, we need to look athow we are going to placetrades. When exchanges werefirst introduced punters andtraders used the standardwebsite supplied by the likes ofBetdaq and Betfair to placetheir bets, but traders nowhave an array of softwareavailable to use. This hasopened up more doors fortrading opportunities as mosttrading software allows quickerprocesses and automatedtrades into a market.

jjManual tradingManual trading is how mosttraders started. Financialtraders never had the benefitof using advanced tradingsoftware until recently andthey would simply have tophone their trades through,which is why you often sawtraders with more than onephone to their ear.

Although most professionaltraders will use software, thereare still ways of tradingwithout it. For example, if youare thinking of trading

long-term ante-post markers,where the prices do not changeas rapidly as in a horserace,manual trading is ideal.

The graphic (right) is anexample of how you can placetwo trades into the ante-postFrench Open – mens outrightmarket. If you are able to getboth bets matched – backNadal at 1.58 for £1000 andlay Nadal at 1.56 for £1012.82– you would lock in a profit of£12.82 even before thetournament starts.

This is quite astraightforward process andmost exchanges will show aprofit and loss figure next toeach selection so you can workout how much you will win orlose depending on the result.

If you are just starting out itmay be worth experimentingwith manual trading to getyour head around the wayprices move and concentrateon markets that don’t fluctuate as quickly as in-running events. You will needto have a good head for figuresto work out how much youshould stake on the back andlay side of each trade and youshould start off withminimum liabilites andincrease your stakes only when confident about yourabilities.

In-running betting is now avery popular way for traders toearn their crust and Betfairhave introduced a new serviceto their website for some oftheir in-play markets. It’scalled Cash Out and anexample can be seen above.This is not software you haveto download, but it is a steptowards the use of software.

With this Betfair aid, tradersdo not have to make the effortof working out how to exit atrade. The example aboveshows a £40 bet onManchester City at 2.42, whichwould return £56.80 shouldthey secure victory.

After taking the lead theprice drops to 1.49 and younow have the option of taking£64.53 from the bet (includes£40 stake), leaving aguaranteed profit of £24.53 nomatter what the result. Towork this out manually wouldhave taken a bit of time andthere is a chance Chelsea mayhave equalised in that timewiping out any immediateprofits.

jjTrading with softwareUsing software to trade canimprove your chances ofsuccess but it’s important youlearn the basic principles ofany software before you start

getting heavily involved. So just how can software helpwith trading?

T HE most importantbenefit is the speedof placing a bet.Unlike manually,where you have to

click on back or lay, then enterthe stake or change the priceand click on place bet, youcould have backed and laid inthat same time using software.

It would be too complex togo through all the facilities ofany trading software packagebut we can look at some of themain features.

Lets look at one-clickbetting. Once you have set upyour default stake you cansimply click on a back or layprice and your bet will besubmitted. This has hugebenefits, especially in-runningas the bet will be placed inmilliseconds. This is also

handy if you want to close abet (profit or loss) as you canquickly take the price availableby clicking just once.

The down side is prices canchange very quickly and it iseasy to click on the wrongprice, which can be infuriating.

Another benefit of softwareis the ability to ‘green up’ withjust one click. Let’s say youback A at 5 for £100 and thenlay back for the same stake at4, you will be on a free bet of£100 should the selection win.

However, you can guaranteea profit no matter what theresult by spreading your freebet over all selections and youcan click on Green Up for aguaranteed profit of £25 on alloutcomes. Rather than try andwork out how much you needto stake to guarantee a profit,the software will do it for you.

Offsetting and Stop Loss areother useful tools widelyavailable to traders. Stop Loss

is very handy as you can setthe software to get you out ofa bet at a certain point if thetrade is going against you. Soshould you back a horse withthe intention of laying at ashorter price, the flip side isthe price could increase further leaving you with alosing trade. Rather than riskthe trade getting out of hand,you can instruct the softwareto get out of the bet should theprice go out by half a point.This stops you gettingemotionally involved with atrade.

Offsetting is the oppositeand you can instruct thesoftware to get out of the tradewhen the price is a certainnumber of ticks in your favour.

You can also trade vialadders and use graphs to helpwith your trading.

So where do you start inchoosing the right piece ofsoftware? Betfair and Betdaqhave a section on their websitewhich highlights the majorityof software available for theircustomers to use. Some arefree, some offer free trials andothers have a set fee. Becauseeach trading software is sodifferent it is worthexperimenting with a fewbefore settling down with theone that suits your style oftrading best.

The final option is to designthe trading software yourself.This is not the best option forbeginners as you need to learnhow to trade successfullybefore taking this step, butonce you have a solidunderstanding of the tradingworld then you can eitherdesign your own piece of kit orget someone to do this for you.

The obvious advantage is thesoftware will be exactly howyou want, so you can choosewhether you need morecomplex graphs or additionalfeeds into the software. On thefacing page are a few examplesof companies that offer thisservice.Mark Sutherland

BetwiseOpen source software, comprehensive data andexpert advice to create your own fully automated

betting and trading robots, including:

• Free software to interface with Betfair• The only book which is an official API solution• Smartform: The powerful horseracing database

www.betwise.co.uk

GEEKS TOYFree Trading Software for BetfairFree Betting Software for Betfair

Free Forum / Live Chatwww.geekstoy.com

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Racing Post Saturday, May 7, 2011 31

MANY bettors still tend to tradein an old-fashioned way, with asheet of paper and a pencil inhand.

W h i l e i t g i v e s t h e m a nimaginary feeling of control, theyare missing out on crucial parts,such as speed, accuracy of cal-culations, convenience of interface,cold-bloodedness of decisions,data representation and analysis.

Though many admit the needfor a reliable bot, the method oftriggered betting has only recentlygained in popularity.

It combines your intelligencewith the efficiency of your

computer, giving you a hugeadvantage over others. It workswell because you get to instructyour bot with simple commands,similar to orders you would giveto a broker.

Once you have it tried andpolished in test mode, you canapply the same strategy on adaily basis without the need to bethere for every bet.

And you know exactly whatthe program is doing becauseyou are the one who has actual-ly programmed it.

For more details visit online atmarketfeederpro.com

Give yourself abetting advantage

Custom bots easyway to automation

A greatread andan aid toprofits

Custom bots are a new way toautomate your betting atBetfair.

One of the easiest ways toautomate your betting activityis to order a custom bot. ACustom bot is speciallydesigned to work by yourstrategy and it is only availableto you. It can cater for all yourbetting needs.

All you need to do is write ashort specification about yourstrategy and find a developerthat will make that bot foryou.

Software called Bf BotManager offers several

different bots that can becustomised to work by almost any betting strategyand if that is not enough then a completely new custom bot can be made onrequest.

What is different aboutbetting with Bf Bot Manager?This program will save youtime and money.

Licenses can be purchased for a one-time fee – there is no subscription.More information on licensing and a free trial isavailable at bfbotmanager.com .

BETWISE provides software,powerful databases and guidesso you can create your ownfully automated betting andtrading robots. At Betwise,they are dedicated to helpingbettors and data analystsidentify a winning edge andapply it in sports bettingmarkets.

Betwise provide data,applications and informationto analyse sports – inparticular horseracing – as wellas betting markets.

They alsoprovide themeans to bet onmodern bettingmarketsautomatically –whether betting,trading orarbitrage.

“An invaluable resource forthose wishing to learn aboutautomating Betfairtransactions. I write as aprofessional gamblerspecialising in football marketsand prior to reading the book,had never written a line ofcode in my life.

Within two weeks, I hadseveral automatic bettingprograms (bots) up-and-running, all pieced togetherfrom the sample code.

I have subsequentlyautomated a huge amount ofmy betting strategies and have

significantly increased myprofits. For the intelligentbettor wishing to improve theirefficiency and profitability, thebook is an essential buy” –Alex Johansen.

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More information andtestimonials atbetwise.co.uk/testimonials

All you need todo is write ashortspecificationabout yourstrategy and finda developer

‘For theintelligent bettorwishing toimprove theirefficiency, thisbook is essential’