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Hedging

This is a method that on course bookmakers use to balance an unbalanced book. If they face a large liability on one horse they look to offset the liability and in most cases return a profit by Laying at a lower price than Backing the same horse at.

Now Bet-IE can Hedge in either direction so if you think the horses odds will reduce (a likely prominent position during the race) you can Back first and then aim to get your Lay into the market at the reduced odds. Or if you think the odds are likely to drift in running you can get the Lay bet in and capture the drift to make your profit. This is not limited to Racing as I will demonstrate below.

We have simplified the Hedging feature as much as possible you can now input a Max Liability and then tell Bet-IE the profit you want to make on the Hedge and she will calculate all the prices you need to obtain to make the profit. This time however you can even leave the drift to make a greater profit if you require when used in conjunction with the stoploss function, just remember to cancel the unmatched half of the Hedge before using the stoploss or you could have x2 bets submitted. Remember to cancel a bet just check the box and click Modify Bets.

We can also perform a % spread based profit, this just enables us to basically set up a difference in odds (the % spread) and if the odds drift or reduce to our parameters then we make our profit.

In this first example we will use X-Games poker and are setting up for just a profit based Hedge.

Step 1 - Load Markets

Step 2 - Select a market

Step 3 - Select an event

Step 4 - Select a runner / hand to Hedge

Step 5 - Select Hedging Function and Turn the Market Refresh ON

Step 6 - Select Stoploss and then which way you want to Hedge the bet. In this case I choose Lay - Back. I have told Bet-IE I wish to use a Max Liability of £100 and want to make a £10 profit, if you notice the options area has the bet details displayed my stakes and odds required to make my profit. You will notice the Stoploss window open and the Lay odds lock to the odds I have taken, the Back odds now update live from the market position to show you your Live position you can leave the submitted bet in place so when the odds drift to 5 in this example it closes the bet automatically. Or you can cancel the bet at 5 (just tick the cancel bet box next to the unmatched hand and click Modify Bets) this enables us anytime you want to close out your position by simply clicking on the odds in the stoploss table.

Step 7 - Here we see the position 45 seconds later....

So in this position I make a £10 profit if my Lay is successful (hand loses) and I make £116.59 if my Back bet is successful (hand wins) so the minimum profit I achieve here is £10. Its that easy!!

Remember you can get out of the position by just clicking the odds in the stoploss table.

For a more indepth look at the stoploss table please look at the stoploss thread from the main index.

% Spread example

In the case of our % spread we are looking to set up a spread to capture a drift or shortening of the odds to make our profit. To do this we enter a Max Liability and then we enter a % spread Bet-IE will then show you the profit available from the parameters chosen. Again both sides of the bet are submitted for you so you can leave the odds in tact and just aim at your profit. Or as I have chosen here to highlight again Cancel the second half of the Hedge to use the Stoploss.

After we have Loaded the markets

Step 1 - We select an event

Step 2 - From the open event select your runner to Hedge

Step 3 - Select the Hedging Function and turn on the refresh

Step 4 - I now input my Max Liability and my %spread and notice how Bet-IE calculates my profit, also displaying the variables required for my bet to be successful.

Step 5 - I now open the stoploss function and once it is opened I click the Lay-Back button from the above image (step 4) and the Lay Odds are locked on the table (notice when I decide to Lay the live odds have drifted to 4.7). As the horses odds change with the refresh in the live market the position alters within the stoploss table and the bet variables automatically adjust for you.

Step 6 - As the Lay-Back button is pressed to lock the stoploss table above notice how both sides of the Hedge are entered together, so I could just leave this and monitor odds and hope the drift occurs to lock in my profit. Or I could choose to take a different route.....

Step 7 - Here I cancel the Unmatched Back bet at 6.6, to cancel just check the box next to the horses name (as in the image) and click Modify / Submit Bets.

Step 8 - With the Back bet now cancelled I quickly monitor the Stoploss table as this is now going to update my position from the live market.

Step 9 - When we decide we are happy with the position we are in or are ready to limit the amount of damage we simply click the Odds in the table, remember we already have the Lay odds in place so make sure you just click the Blue Back odds column.

So from the above screenshot you can see my position I either profit £9.83 or £149.39. Now here is where we have a huge advantage with v2.5 to the old Bet-IE my next step is to click the Trading Function quickly and select Kipsigis and EQUALISE PROFITS......I am sure you see the power now of being able to interchange the functions.

PS...
Spot the mistake......David stupidly updated the market odds half way through the Hedge, thats why the final figures are a little out of synch with the original expectation. Well I am human!! LOL