By Alan English
Okay, you've heard about Tradesports, you've heard it's a sports wagering
exchange, where the bookie is cut out of the loop and the trader gets the best
odds around. How do you go about joining in the revolution?
Step 1: Go to the Tradesports website and check out the Flash demo. It only
takes a few minutes and after it you'll wonder why it took so long for the
concept of sports trading to come along. Sure, it takes a little effort on your
part to get to grips with the idea of sports trading - but what's 10 minutes
when it could totally change the way you bet on a game? It will repay your
initial effort a hundred times over. And why should everybody make it easy for
bookies to get rich? They're just middlemen between you and another guy who
holds the opposite view from you on a game. Cut out the middle man. Deal with
other traders direct. Buyers and sellers come together in thousands of different
marketplaces all over the world - why should sports wagering be any different?
Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the numbers. A contract offered by
Tradesports will trade at anything between 1 and 99. Let's say that contract is
on the New York Giants to win a particular game by a margin of 3.5 points or
more. Because of the handicap, it should be the case that the Giants have around
a 50-50 chance of winning. That's before the game starts. Once it does, we're
talking a whole new ball game. If the Giants lead 10-0 in the first quarter,
their chances of covering the spread have suddenly soared, maybe to 75 per cent.
In which case the market will reflect that and there will be buyers and sellers
at 75. Buy 100 contracts at 75 and you're up $250 if the Giants win and down
$750 if they don't. Who makes that $750? Not Tradesports - they make their money
by charging commission of $0.04 per $10 bet. No, sellers are in the money if the
contract crashes and settles at zero, rather than 100. It's bulls and bears -
just like the stock market.
Step 2: Start watching the markets. The best way to do this is during a live
game. The thing about trading is, you don't have to stick with the one team!
Take Monday night's NFL game between the 49ers and the Seahawks. The contract
was on San Francisco winning by 3.5 points or more. The contract opens at 47 but
the 49ers burst out of the blocks and pretty soon the contract is trading at 70.
That means if you bought at 47 you can take a nice profit by getting 'flat' -
selling your stake - at the new market price of 70. The profit is 23 'ticks' (70
minus 47). The more contracts you have bought and sold, the more money you're
making. Of course, if you've liquidated your position, you can go back into the
marketplace. So once you have got a good grasp on how the markets move, you're
ready to play for real.
Step 4: Fund your account through Neteller, Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, bank
transfers or check.
Step 5: Do your homework. It's fun to trade on any game - you won't believe
how exhilarating it is until you try it - but the object of the exercise is
making money. Pick a game and analyse it. You want to get off to a winning
start. Let's say you go with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Philadelphia Eagles
this Sunday, March 20. What are the factors to consider here? Philadelphia
have beaten the Bucs by a combined score of 52-12 in consecutive wild-card
meetings over the past two seasons. The Bucs' offense has come on a lot - but is
it good enough to shoot down the Eagles?
You might conclude that, ultimately, the Eagles are going to be too strong.
That means if the Bucs get off to a great start, you're going to stay with the
Eagles and keep buying them into a falling market. Early Wednesday, the Eagles
were trading at 62 without a handicap - so if they scrape home by a point, you
make 38 ticks. There will be another contract on the Eagles, of course, this
time with a handicap spread. Tradesports members prefer this kind of contract.
On Monday, members traded a staggering 16,678 contracts on the 49ers-Seahawks
game. The 49ers, after going behind, nosedived to a price of just 18 but then
rallied and covered the spread, settling at 100. If you bought them at 18, you
were walking on air. If you sold them at that low, low price, you were kicking
the cat around. Either way, you were using your judgment to make snap decisions
and having a hell of a ride.
Step 6: Start trading! Go easy at first, until you're familiar with the
trading interface. Everything is clearly explained and your account details are
instantly accessible. Bet a fraction of what you might risk once you're fully
confident and up to speed. Then, once you get the hang of it, you'll quickly
find yourself trading like you've been doing it all your life. And you'll never
want to do business with a bookie again!
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