Exchange liquidity and unmatched bets | OddsMonkey Quick Tips
Exchange liquidity is an integral part of lay betting. In this video, we’ll look at exactly what it is, why it’s so important, and how you can avoid placing unmatched bets at the betting exchange.
TRANSCRIPT:
Exchange liquidity and unmatched bets
Liquidity at the exchange is important for getting your bets matched in full. Liquidity is the amount of money that’s already being traded in the markets. If there isn’t enough there you might not get your requested bet matched.
The amount shown in this column is the total traded on the whole market. You can see that the more obscure games have much less traded, which is why it’s often advisable to stick to higher profile matches. We can also see that here at Smarkets.
The amounts shown under the odds here are what is available if you were to try and lay the bet. So if you have to lay a £20 bet on this match for example, the bet would not match, as there is only £13 available.
The amount available is also shown on the OddsMatcher here. You can use this as a guide to make sure there is enough money available for you to get your bet matched.
If you were to place a bet without there being enough money available, you could end up with an unmatched bet. This would put your back bet at risk as you wouldn’t be covering it with a lay bet.
The other scenario is that you end up with a partially-matched bet meaning you’ve got a lay bet on at the odds you wanted, but it hasn’t laid enough. This again leaves us exposed and in a position where we may lose money. You can either wait and hope the rest of the bet gets matched, or you can use the ‘part-lay’ function on the OddsMonkey calculator to work out what you need to do in order to fully cover your back bet.
Head over to the calculator and enter the details of your back bet. Enter the currently available lay odds and the commission you have with the exchange. Next, enable the ‘part lay’ functionality of the calculator by clicking here. You can now enter the details of the lay bet you have managed to get on. The calculator will then tell you what you need to lay at the new odds in order to make up the shortfall of the original lay bet.
