Spread Betting Strategies

1. Buy to Sell

Suppose you think that San Diego will do quite well this season in the NFL (although you don't think they will actual win the Superbowl).  You could buy San Diego in a season market early on, and then sell them when they start to perform to expectations.  The fact that they never win is irrelevant.

2. Oppose Limited Downside bets

Just like with fixed odds, spread betting markets are influenced by the public and what people bet on.  If lots of people buy goals in a match, then the quote will go up.

On our spread betting risks page we discussed the fact that if you buy goals you have a limited downside since there is no way there can be less than 0 goals.

This fact has a heavy influence on the way people bet.  Psychologically people prefer to have a know maximum exposure and hence there is a subconscious bias on peoples betting towards buying goals.  This can push the quote higher than it would naturally be, meaning that the value is actually in betting the other way and selling goals.

If you also throw in the fact that no-one likes to expect a 0-0 draw when they sit down to watch a match then this again increases the number of buy bets on goals markets.

We certainly wouldn't recommend always selling goals or shirts but you should be aware that sometimes the quote may be higher than it should perhaps be.

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