|
Page 1 of 2 
Paying The Green Way.
A popular technique used by many traders is to ‘Green-up’ after making successful trade. Most of the reputable software packages will do this for you and make all the necessary calculations required but I am often asked how do you do this?
Many novice traders think that greening up means spreading the profit across a number of selections. Recently I met such a novice who angrily exclaimed that his potential £500 risk free profit on a horse shrank to a lot less than £2 after he had greened. He expected £50, as there were ten runners! Unfortunately, it is not a case of dividing the profit by the number of runners!
So, how is it done?
Let's look at one selection in a Betfair market. I’m not concerned about how many possible winners there could be and this could be a horse race, a soccer match-odds market or a number of other win-only markets.
My selection is currently trading at 6.0 and I intend to back this for £100 as I expect the price to shorten. So my expected profit is £500.
A couple of minutes later the selection is now available to lay at 5.0. Laying at 5.0 for £100 gives me a liability of £400. Now I have the risk free bet we all like with a potential £100 profit on my selection if it wins and no liability at all if it loses.
But being the kind of chap who likes to make money whatever the outcome I need to green at this point.
I need to make a further greening bet. Calculating the greening stake required is easy. Simply divide the potential profit on the selection by the current lay price. So, in this case I would divide £100 by 5, which gives a figure of £20. I place a further lay bet of £20 at 5.0.
If the selection wins the following happens to the bets:
Original Back bet : +£500
Lay Bet : - £400
Second lay bet : - £80
Total Profit : +£20 !
If the selection loses the following happens:
Original Back bet : - £100
Lay Bet : +£100
Second lay bet : +£20
Total Profit : +£20 !
I make a profit of £20 regardless of the result. This shows on Betfair as a green £20 (or €20 if this is your preferred currency) against each runner in the market – even though I haven’t made any bets on any other selection!
|
