Betfair offers a global portfolio of gambling and online betting activities to its customers.

The betting exchange is still the best place for bets “for”, “against”, trade, ask for a better price and Cash Out. You can continue to place bets on combinations and enter the most popular Sportsbook markets on the Exchange (click on the fixed odds option), which means you can always win.

The art of trading in Betfair markets has undergone many evolutions over the years since it opened. But what are the most popular trading strategies that have stood the test of time?

Use bookmakers’ odds

A well-known strategy is to compare odds on the betting exchange with those of a bookmaker house. Look for a match in which Betfair offers a 2.20 odds one day before the match for one team. Then go to the odds comparison site and see what the bookmakers are currently offering. Ideally, you will see bookmakers give around 2.00 odds per game, sometimes even less. If you see a downward trend in the recent hours, this is another good sign. When you find a suitable match, you can bet "For" the team at 2.20 odds with the idea then place a "Against" bet on the same team shortly before the match, when the odds on the exchange fell, and thus to ensure a safe win. You can learn more about what these odds are and how to place them on How Betting Exchanges Work.

Use starting lineups

Pre-match markets can be stable throughout the day, but all this can change when the official lineups are out an hour before the match. Odds can then change dramatically, especially if unexpected news comes out, such as a key player injury or a coach's decision to give some players a break from their first team. Outperform others with your reaction - there are many social media sites and channels from which to learn start-ups as they are released. You won't be the only one doing this, so speed is essential.

How to profit from this strategy? If you learn before the others that the best player in one team will not be able to take part in the match, you will be able to place a bet on his team at good odds, which will then collapse quickly once the public has learned the news. Similar to the above example, after the odds collapse, you place an "Against" bet on this team and thus guarantee a profit.

Also, you can anticipate some changes before you see the official lineups. Consider whether a manager has a reason to give his players a break - maybe his opponent is weak and his team is having a tough game in Europe? If you feel that the manager may come up with a weaker team, place an "Against" bet before the news come out and bet a higher “For”odd after the exit.

Know the teams

You do not have to close your bets before the start of the match to win with Betfair. One of the other ways to put yourself in a good position is to be very familiar with the teams and leagues that you will place your bets on. Understanding how a particular arrangement or how the presence / absence of a player will affect the entire team is a huge advantage in trading on betting exchanges. The lack of a right-back in the bottom half of the English Division Two table will certainly not be leading news for websites and newspapers, but if you know how this absence will affect the team and whether there is an equivalent replacement, you will be able to earn a big trading advantage.

The situation is similar in other sports, not just football. In tennis, for example, it is very important to know how players perform in certain situations. It's good to take notes for all players from at least the Top 100 men and women tennis to achieve long-term success in tennis betting. That means tough work, but think of it this way - how many of the other players on the exchange market have any idea how the 90th in the world can present himself in a losing first set situation in a warming tournament before Roland Garros? Very few. Knowledge is power and when it comes to sport betting , knowledge is money.

Match dynamics and market response

In most cases, the odds in the live betting markets are quite volatile in the first half, except, of course, if there are no goals scored. It is only in the second half that changes occur in most cases. Knowing the pace of markets is another key to profits.

For example, how will the odds be different from the current one in 15 minutes if no goal is scored during this time?

It is interesting to know that when a goal is scored, markets often wander into serious ranges until the "right price" is established. For example, let's say that Bologna led Inter. 30-60 seconds after the goal is scored, the Bologna odds settle and hold at around 1.80. But before it reaches that steady level, within these seconds you will see how it moves in the 1.75-1.85 range. Knowing the dynamics of the markets and how the goals affect the odds will help you make countless successful bets and counter-bets that will bring you small but safe and consistent profits.

Interesting moments are also noticeable in the development of tennis markets. Often, especially in three-set matches, we see the odds of the winner in the first set collapse dramatically. This is a very common occurrence when the set is won convincingly, but even with a set won by a tiebreaker, we see a big failure of its holder. The market often sees the winner in the first set as a sure winner and forgets that there is more to see until the end of the match.

Tennis is a very volatile sport and the fact that someone has won a set does not necessarily mean that he is the better player. Betting Against Winners in the first sets has the potential to be a very successful strategy, as long as you find out when the odds have crashed too much and when the collapse is within the normal range, given that this player is one set closer to victory.

Another common market reaction is when one player makes a breakthrough. Exchange players immediately accept that the set is already won by this player, even when it comes to women's tennis, where breakthroughs don't really mean much.

This, of course, does not exhaust the strategies that can bring success. In Betfair's Strategy Against Equal Result, you can see another very interesting strategy.