Scalping Betfair Horse Odds

a_gnome said:

Hi all,
I've recently been trading the betfair horse odds and doing pretty well out of it, albeit on a rather small account size (~£300). I'm typically trading the last 10 minutes or so before a race and I'm making about 2% - 4% per day though actually only trading for about an hour or so each day. I'm not making full use of my account: currently I'm using about 25% of the account on each trade so there is potential to make 10% per day. I'm wondering if there are any fellow traders who would care to swap experience of doing this. In particular I am interested to know just how much this can be scaled up, i.e. what's the maximum account size that can be traded before you start to get too large. I know there are traders out there who are throwing around £1000's but that's mainly to push the market around - I'm guessing that it becomes a different sort of game as the bet sizes get larger.

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rols said:

I have a friend who makes a living from Betfair horses.

He told me his methods and I was most impressed by his methods which involved as much discipline and MM skills as successful trading requires.

1. He only bets on favourites of a certain type
2. Uses anti martingale
3. Is happy to take many small profits the average punter would't be interested in.
4. Quits as soon as profit objective for the day is reached. (Usually takes 2-3 hours)

So I guess one of his edges to spurn that false friend Mr. Greedy.

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a_gnome said:

I have reason to believe that there are a number of people who make a living from this sort of thing. The question is what sort of living. There was a guy who was selling a Betfair software program who published his results and basically he was making ~£20k a year which is technically "a living" but if you have to spend all afternoon slogging away for this then I'm not really going to be interested. However if you can scale it up to 10 times that amount then suddenly I am!

Do you happen to know how much your friend was making and what sort of bet sizes he was trading? Also, was he "trading" the odds (i.e. hedging all bets before the race starts) or was he actually holding bets through to the conclusion of the race?

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rols said:

I believe he aims to make £200 per day. That what he needs for a comfortable life style.

To some 20K a year for three hours work a day from home would be worth having. Hardly 'slogging' compared to working down a coal mine or nursing.

To make 200K a year would probably require a considerable account size or involve a lot more risk.

Horses for courses.

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a_gnome said:

Hi Rols,

Thanks for the answer. £200 per day sounds like about what I imagined the limit to be and is quite good going. Do you happen to know what account size he has to achieve this and what fraction of his account he might commit on each bet? I'm trying to get a feel for the sort of bet sizes that one can achieve.

TIA

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TheBramble said:

Your options to scalp are extremely limited to non-existent.

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shadowninja said:

I completely disagree. There are plenty of opps for a newcomer to sports trading pre-race. Just watch the ladder and if someone has the balls and focus to trade pre-race 10 minutes before the start, they can make much tickage. I have had some success 20-10 minutes before the off but it gets a bit hectic after that. I personally find football trading a lot easier so stick to that.

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