Arbitrage Trading Set Up
Use Every Free Trial You Can
Go to our trials page, and register for every
trial available. Don't waste one free resource available to you. Try to stagger
them so that you have more time for your preparation, but use them all. This is
important to do not only because it allows you to see some variety available in
the alert services and helps you to choose what service you want, but it is an
important step because it gives you a real hands on experience in arbitrage
where you can start to practice and learn things for yourself. With this time
you need to sort out:
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How are you going to go about trading?
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What bookmakers are most common with the alert style/service(s) you want to use?
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Which bookmakers in particular do you want to use?
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How can you fund them, and is this accessible to you?
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Are any problems likely to come up in the middle of a trade? (read bookmaker
T&C)
By using the trials in this way, you can decide exactly how you are going to
trade and get thoroughly prepared before it starts costing you any money. The
first decision you are going to have to make is how you are going to trade.
There are two options, and these options are reflected in the alert service
styles. Some services use software to find many simple consistently formed arbs
which come and go quickly, while other alert services rely on manually found
arbs in non-standard events and bet types which are often higher percentage and
longer lasting. These two styles of arbitrage alert require two different styles
of bookmaker use to take advantage of them each fully.
 The 'Defined' Arbitrage Trading Style
Alert programs like SureBetPro, ArbAlarm, SportsPunter, OddsAndBets,
ArbitragePro etc deliver arbs which have been discovered by complicated scripts.
These arbs meet a range of predefined criteria and nothing outside of that
criteria will ever be reported. Since these programs are constantly downloading
the lines from bookmakers and comparing and calculating the lines looking for
arbs you get two certainties. Firstly, you get arbs very quickly after they are
created. Secondly, you get a lot of arbs. ArbitragePro finds around 400 unique
arbs a week, OddsAndBets and SureBetPro reports around 4-7000 a week, and
ArbAlarm reports around 20,000 arbs a week. The consequence of this pre-defined
arbitrage criteria is that the arbs tend to not last very long. The arbs are
usually found in high visibility sports (Soccer games, tennis games, snooker games, baseball and basketball
games etc) and betting types (Match betting, Asian handicapping, over/under
etc). These bets see a lot of volume and the lines move quickly so you need to
move fast to place your bets.
Setting Up for 'Defined' Arbitrage Trading
In order to take advantage of these arbs you need to be able to place the bets
quickly before the lines move, and you need to be ready for the next arb to come
along. The only practical method to achieve this is to have a carefully selected
group of bookmakers funded appropriately. Depending on your bankroll you will
need to select anything from 5 to 15 bookmakers in the beginning, then slowly
work up from there. Even with a large bankroll it may not be advisable to
deposit all of your money in every bookmaker you can find because you still need
to familiarise yourself with each bookmaker. This is much easier to do one
bookmaker at a time. If every arb you get is at a new bookmaker, it will take a
lot longer to become accustomed to the navigation of each, and it will increase
your chances of making a mistake (Not confirming a bet when you still needed to,
or pressing the 'place bet' button on a website expecting a 'confirm bet' screen
when it doesn't have one, things like that).
So, during your trial phase, decide if the Defined Sports Arbitrage trading
style is the one you would like to use, pick which bookmakers partake in the
most arbs, decide whether you like their layout. Inspect their deposit and
withdrawal methods (list available at SureBetBookies) and ensure you won't get
your money trapped in any one bookmaker if it wins its bets consistently. Line
the bookmaker selections up with what method for deposit/withdrawal you wish to
use and ensure that that is all in order (register at Neteller and VERIFY your
account for instance). Make sure your arbitrage alert service finds arbs with
the bookmakers you have chosen. Register at your first batch of bookmakers, and
deposit your money appropriately. Ensure you apply for all bonuses which you
need to apply for. When you are making 0.5% profit on each trade, a 20% bonus is
HUGE, and easy money. With bookmakers registered and deposited, your alert
service chosen and your e-wallet or CC ready to have funds withdrawn to it, or
more funds deposited from it, you are ready to go.
Remember: At this point you still need to practice and learn the tricks which
only come from experience. DO NOT rush in. Paper trade a lot, then start with
small trades, and build up to the larger trades.
The 'Open' Arbitrage Trading Style
Alert programs like UCantLose, ArbHunters, BetRiskFree and Sports-Arbitrage.com
deliver arbs which have been discovered (at least to some extent) by human
efforts. These arbs can come in any form, are usually well verified, and
regularly last considerably longer than the arbs discovered in mainstream sports
and betting types by software. However, there are usually a lot less arbs found
this way and each of these services only report to find an average of 20+ per
month (BetRiskFree), 120 per month (ArbHunters), and 50 per month (UCantLose).
Setting Up for 'Open' Arbitrage Trading Style
With only an average of 3 arbs coming through per day for even the most
productive regular reporting service in this category, the defined arbing style
setup would not suffice for the open style. With the defined system, it is
acceptable to miss out on 9/10 of all of the arbs, because there are so many you
need to focus in and place lots of quick small ones. With the open style there
are not enough arbs to be able to miss any of them, so you need to not exclude
any bookmakers.In order to include all bookmakers, you will need to figure
out how to quickly, easily, and hopefully fee-free deposit money into every
bookmaker listed by your alert service. You will need to register at every
bookmaker they use, and then you will need to simply spend the time going
through the terms and conditions (T&C) of every single one of them and figure
out what the best method you can use is to get money in and out as you need to.
Record everything you learn. Is the deposit instant? (important!) Is there a fee
to deposit? Can you withdraw via the same method you deposited? HOW can you
withdraw? Fee to withdraw? Is there a fee for currency conversion? Do they
accept your currency? The currency conversion question is an important one
because you do not want to be trying to calculate conversion rates while trying
to place an arb. Try to keep currencies between all of the bookmakers the same,
yet try not to have to pay a conversion rate every time you deposit money... Do
your own research here and find the answers. The resolution to this problem is
individual to every person, every currency and every location.
Once you have done your bookmaker setup (a list of every bookmaker used by
each of the alert services can be
downloaded here) you are ready to start paper trading and practicing.
Open vs. Defined Arbitrage Trading
I have called the first style 'Defined' because you have a defined system of
arbitrage discovery, a defined number of bookmakers and a defined bankroll with
which to work, while 'Open' is open to all sorts of variations. There is no
defined style of betting, no defined bookmakers, and no defined trading capital
with which you are necessarily limited. The whole system is very open...
Which system is the best? I'm not sure yet. There are clearly benefits and
drawbacks to each and I think the decision as to which one is right for you will
often be decided by your location, currency, and deposit/withdrawal limitations.
Allowing for the above personal considerations though, there are some obvious
factors which come into play with each method. The Defined method is a safer,
yet much more limited method in my experience. It stops you from being able to
take advantage of arbs anywhere other than where you are deposited already. This
can be very limiting, but on the upside it allows you to take advantage of
bonuses since you do not need to worry about meeting rollover bonus so much (you
will be leaving the money in there and will be able to roll it over relatively
easily), and it also minimises any transactions costs which you need to cover in
the deposit/withdrawal process. Often you are given one free withdrawal per
month which is plenty for the Defined method, yet obviously limits you to only
one free trade per month with the each bookmaker when using the Open method.
The Open method allows you to get into arb trading without any capital if you
can use your credit card. This is an obviously huge benefit for many people who
do not have capital. Of course using credit heightens the risks involved since
it is money you assumedly can't afford to lose if you were to make a bad
mistake... The ability to place full volume trades on every arb which you find
though is very profitable, particularly in light of the higher percentage trades
which regularly come through the services which cater to the Open style of
trading. The added risk though, is that with the extra time taken to deposit
funds you will miss the arb and be left with one or two bookmakers with money
deposited in them and no option but to simply withdraw again after making no
wager. Many bookmakers will penalise people who withdraw without gambling by
charging a fee of some type, or otherwise there is often a fee for depositing or
withdrawing anyway...
That raises another potential issue with this method. Bookmakers do not like
people who deposit money, win a bet, then withdraw all of their money.
Particularly if it is done repeatedly. This method of arbing is more likely to
draw negative attention to your account and get your account limited or closed.
However, since you are performing far less arbs than the Defined method and you
are accessing far more books, it might be a long time between using the same
bookmaker twice and so not a particularly bad concern. Also, losing one book out
of a hundred (or more) is not such a problem really, it just starts 'defining'
your selection a little....
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