Main Market Liquidity indicators in sports betting on BetFair
By liquidity we often mean the amount of money available for trading and the speed at which bets are placed and matched in the market. In MarketFeeder Pro, we have a number of liquidity indicators that will help you bet smarter on BetFair.
Market Volume
The main liquidity indicator is the amount of money matched in the market already, i.e. its volume of money. The more money is already matched, the higher is the bettors’ interest towards this market, so the more likely it is that your own bet will be matched.
For example, in football, good liquidity is anything above £10,000 at the start of the match.
How to check this in a trigger?
Market’s Matched Volume is equal or greater than X
The trigger variable for the market volume is market_volume.
Price Gap
Another indicator is the difference (gap) between the back and lay prices of the selections participating in the market. In other words, back prices are too low and lay price are too high, this is a sign that the market has not attracted too many bets yet. The favourite selection (the one with the lowest price) must have no more than 5 ticks between its back and lay prices for the market to qualify as liquid.
How to check this in a trigger?
Selection’s Back Price is equal or greater than r_ticks(lay_price, -X)
where X is the maximum number of ticks.
Last Traded Price
The last traded price is the price at which the last bet was matched on the given selection. Often once a market has been added on BetFair, it has zero liquidity and no bets are matched, so the last traded price is null. The closer the last traded price to the current best back or lay price, the more probable it is that your next bet will be matched fast.
How to check this in a trigger?
Selection’s Last Traded Price is greater than 1.0
and Selection’s Trigger Expression ABS(g_ticks(last_traded, back_price)) is equal or less than X
where X is the maximum number of ticks by which the Last Traded Price can differ from the best back price.
Book%
A book% is a sum of a selection’s chances, where a chance is defined as 100/price.
In a high-liquidity market, both back and lay book% are as close to 100% as possible (the back book% is slightly greater than and the lay book% less than 100%). The further the book% is from 100%, the less dynamic the market is.
How to check this in a trigger?
Market’s Back Book % is between 1 and X
And Market’s Lay Book% is equal or greater than Y
The trigger variable for these are back_book and lay_book.
Amounts Offered at the Best Prices
The amounts of money offered at the best prices (back and lay) of a selection is also a liquidity indicator, albeit an indirect one. If, despite being in a close succession, the prices of the selection are not supported with enough money, your bet is likely to remain unmatched.
How to check this in a trigger?
Selection’s Back Amount/Lay Amount is equal or greater than X
The trigger variables for these are back_amount and lay_amount.
Volume Percentage
This indicator is best used for predicting the liquidity of a particular selection rather than the whole market. Often the favourite will enjoy all the attention of bettors, leaving underdogs with nothing to offer in terms of a matched bet. Check the selection’s volume percentage, i.e. its share of money compared to the total amount matched in the market.
How to check this in a trigger?
Selection’s Volume % is equal or greater than X
The trigger variable for this is volume.