A scalper is someone who profits from short term movements in the underlying price of a market. They are an extremely short term trader. The aim is to make money on the spread between bid and ask prices, or in the case of a Betfair scalper, between the back and lay price. This is true for financial markets as well, however, this article concentrates on scalping on Betfair. For scalping on Betfair you need two things, a Betfair account and Betfair betting software. Readers who need an explanation about Betfair should the Let’s Compare Bets guide to Betfair.
The concept is simple, if you back a price you must lay at a lower price, or, if you lay a price you must back a higher price to make a profit. Whatever happens your profit is guaranteed and is equal to the difference or spread between the back and lay price. Betfair is an ideal place to trade in this way.
Scalping on Befair relies on lots of liquidity in the market. It needs a constant stream on money entering into the market, backing and laying at different prices. As the price fluctuates a scalper can make money. Horse racing markets on Betfair lend themselves to this type of short term trading. A lot of money enters these markets even before the race starts. This is the time to scalp the market, the success of Betfair scalper Adam Todd is proof of this.
A strict exit strategy must be implemented because one large loss could eliminate the many small gains that you have worked to obtain. Needless to say, discipline to get out of bad trades and risk management is extremely important and if implemented properly it is possible for a scalper to make consistent profits.
Another defining characteristic of Betfair scalpers is that they usually don’t know anything about what it is they are buying and selling. They don’t use fundamentals to base their trading decisions on but rather rely on familiar and predictable short term price patterns that they have learned to recognise and exploit. A Betfair scalper doesn’t need to know anything about what he is buying and selling because often the fundamentals don’t apply to such a short term view.
This is true whether the scalper is buying and selling stocks, oil futures or horse racing prices. And the key to success is speed: the faster you take your profits the less risk you are taking, and the scalper avoids risk at all costs. Risk must be minimized as much as possible which means holding positions for the shortest possible amount of time. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of what scalping means.
As is often the case with embarking on a new trading strategy it is a good idea to get some tuition. If you are interested in scalping on Betfair Adam Todd is a person you may want to turn to. He has made a good living from doing this and has developed software called Bet Trader which gets data from Betfair that will help you profit from scalping horse races. The free version of the software also has some useful functions which can aid betting on Betfair.
The video below has been made by a ‘scalper’ called ‘The Badger’ who scalps various markets on Betfair. Play the video to see how he does it.
The Badger uses Bet Trader for scalping on Betfair. Get started on Betfair with a free bet.
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One response to “What is scalping on Betfair and how is it done. Plus Video”
Thanks for the article but I am confused by this sentence:
“The concept is simple, if you back a price you must lay at a higher price, or, if you lay a price you must back a lower price to make a profit.”
My thinking is:
If I back £10 at price decimal odds 6.0 and lay £12 at price decimal odds 5.0, I make a profit of £2 whatever the outcome:
If selection wins. I gain £50 and lose £48 = £2 profit
If selection lost. I lose £10 and gain £12 = £2 profit
Have I misunderstood or is it just a typo ?