One of the simpler betting techniques is “scalping” It’s easy to get your head around and relies on short-term variations and changes in bookmakers or betting exchanges’ odds.
Scalping is the process of taking advantage of minor, short-term price swings within the betting Exchange markets to make a profit, with distinctly lower risk.
What Is It?
Scalping involves betting on two or more options in a betting market and hoping to be matched at differing prices.
To have the very best chances of being a successful scalper in betting you want to research a market first and try to think what the possible results could be.
You then want to watch the odds and how they fluctuate and watch for any trends, if and when you do you place a bet with limited risk as you will be looking to place a lay bet to that stake to secure a profit.
Profits
Profits can be very small let’s say for example £4 but there are unlimited markets to do this with and no limit on how many trades you could place on a single market.
This means that profits can quickly rack up, especially if you are using betting software that allows you to automatically place these bets as and when the odds occur instead of doing it manually.
How Does It Work
Known as an “in and out” trade on a betting market to scalp a market you simply back and lay the same outcome to lock in a profit.
To do this, the bets will have slight increment differences for the bet to have a profit locked in.
The risk is a lot lower because odds on smaller-priced markets such as odds on horse racing markets tend to hover around the same prices and rarely drastically change by too much.
You back at one price and try to lay at a shorter price or vice versa, the difference in the two odds will leave a certain amount of profit if successful or a small loss if you are unlucky.
A Working Example
Allow me to give you a scalping example to clarify anything you are still unsure of, high volume markets such as Horse Racing are favoured by betting scalpers because the odds are usually more stable.
Example 1 – Manchester City Vs Tottenham Hotspur football fixture
Man City is 2.00 and Tottenham is 3.00 to win the match, you place a £200 bet on Man City to win at 2.02 in the hope the price will drift a small amount, you also place a lay bet of £200 at 2.00 to lock in a 0.02 difference in the market.
Your bet gets matched and also your lay bet, you now stand to make £204 if Man City wins, or breaks even if they lose or draw.
This makes one side of the market green (Man City to win) because you will make £4 profit without any liability (risk).
You can then choose to green up either manually or with software placing more lay bets on the other outcomes to lock in a profit regardless of the result (obviously this will lower profits further).
You must also consider what the commission is on your betting exchange on anything you win and work out your bets to make sure it’s covered as well as the profit that you want to take.
Example 2 – Cheltenham Horse racing fixture
Stradivarius is running as the favourite at odds of 2.50 you place a back bet of £200 at 2.52 which is matched when the market fluctuates and you also place a lay bet of £200 at 2.50.
This locks in £4 profit if this horse then goes on to win the race and if it doesn’t you don’t lose anything as your lay bet covers your original stake.
Once again you can choose to green up or let the bet ride on the favourite winning, if it does lose though you make no profit but will lose nothing too.
Scalping In-Play
This is something I wouldn’t recommend as the risk is far higher, and markets can be highly volatile and move much quicker when in play as the speed of your exit in a bet is the biggest part of scalping successfully you don’t really want to try this.
Should you want to try in-play scalping, however, football is slightly safer than horse racing, if you must do it in horse racing try non-jump racing over long distances so you have more time.
You don’t want to try and scalp a horse in running over 5 furlongs.
The software can help further
To be successful at scalping either before a market goes into play or in running, having the right software is crucial to maximise the speed at which you can enter and exit the betting exchange markets.
I recommend something like lay back bot you can automate your scalping and set it to do all the work for you.
Summary
Scalping done right can be highly profitable but make sure you fully understand what you are doing first, check commissions you will have to pay out of winnings and make sure you have the bankroll to succeed.
I say bankroll as you can’t make any money by placing £10 or £20 bets and then laying them, you will make pennies it will have to be higher stakes but if done right the risk is also very low.
Thanks for reading this what is scalping in the betting guide, I hope it has been useful for you if it has please share it on social media with family and friends.
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