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Financial Betting

ISBN: 978-0-470-74150-4Not for resale

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Your guide to getting startedon BetsForTraders.comFinancial Betting For Dummies, the low-risk way of making money on BetsForTraders.com, is a user-friendly guide to the world’s most powerful fixed odds financial betting service. In a series of practical steps, this book explains the whole process from setting up an account on the site, to getting to grips with the differ-ent sorts of bets and how best to use them to your advantage.

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A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication

by Douglas Gallagher

FinancialBetting

FOR

DUMmIES‰

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Financial Betting For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland

E-mail (for orders and customer service enquiries): cs-books@wiley.co.uk

Visit our Home Page on www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechani-cal, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued bythe Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP,UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisherfor permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley &Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England,or emailed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (44) 1243 770620.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Manlogo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Funand Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States andother countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is notassociated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER, THE AUTHOR, ANDANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN PREPARING THIS WORK MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WAR-RANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THISWORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATIONWARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATEDOR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON-TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITHTHE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL,ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE ISREQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT.NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HERE-FROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK ASA CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEANTHAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATIONOR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERSSHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGEDOR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content thatappears in print may not be available in electronic books.

ISBN: 978-0-470-74150-4

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Page Bros, Norwich

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Introduction

Welcome to Financial Betting For Dummies, yourlow-risk way of making money on BetsForTraders.

com.

BetsForTraders.com was set up to create the simplest,but also the most powerful fixed-odds financial bettingservice in the world. The company was founded by twoformer City traders who wanted to provide a limitedrisk way for the public to gain access to the markets.BetsForTraders.com now handles millions of poundsworth of bets for thousands of different clients everyyear.

This book contains all you need to know about how tojoin the BetsForTraders.com community to earn tax-free profits using simple fixed odds bets on the mar-kets. (Note: Profits are tax-free in the UK. Rememberthat tax laws may change in the future.)

About This BookIt’s a myth that you need to be a financial whiz kid tomake money from the world’s stock markets. In fact,this book shows you just how easily you can createsimple fixed-cost trades with profits many times largerthan your stake. In a series of practical steps I explainthe whole process from opening an account with themarket leading financial bookmaker BetsForTraders.com, to creating different types of bets, right throughto honing a winning strategy.

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Foolish AssumptionsTo make this guide as relevant as possible I assumethat:

� You’re interested in the financial markets and likethe idea of using them to make money.

� You have access to a computer with an Internetconnection.

� You’re over 18 and live outside the USA.

How This Book Is OrganisedFinancial Betting For Dummies is divided into six infor-mation-packed parts:

Part I: Getting Ready for Take-off on BetsForTraders.com. This part explains the nuts and bolts of launchingyour account.

Part II: Seeing Double with Binary Bets. Head to this part for info on the most popular type of bet atBetsForTraders.com.

Part III: One for All, and All for One-Touch Betting.Here, I explain how to place bets where you win assoon as the market touches your level.

Part IV: Going Hands-free with No-Touch Betting.This part introduces you to no-touch betting, when you predict that a market won’t touch or trade past acertain level.

Part V: Developing Winning Strategies. Here, I let youin on a few tips for interpreting the odds, and refiningyour betting.

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Part VI: Ten Great Tips from BetsForTraders.com.From honing your prediction skills to setting yourselflimits, this part is chock-full of advice from the experts.

Icons Used in This BookTo help you get the most out of the information in thisbook I use a few icons to highlight important points:

Head for the target for information that canimprove your trading on BetsForTraders.com.

The knotted string highlights points to bear inmind as you explore BetsForTraders.com.

This icon warns you about potential pitfalls.

As well as explaining the features of the web-site, I provide examples to help you make themost of BetsForTraders.com.

Where to Go from HereYou don’t have to read this book from start to finish.You can take the traditional route and read from coverto cover, or simply skip to the section that interestsyou most, using the headings to guide you. Whicheverway you choose leads to the same destination: a funand hopefully profitable experience onBetsForTraders.com.

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Part I

Getting Ready for Take-off on BetsForTraders.com

In This Part� Opening a BetsForTraders.com account

� Providing funds

� Taking home the bacon

� Monitoring your account

Consider this part your launch-pad for rocketing intothe space that is BetsForTraders.com. I explain

how to get started on the website to hopefully earn stellar winnings.

Five fun facts about BetsForTraders.com’s users

� People of all ages use BetsForTraders.com; from 18 (theminimum age required by law) right up to 96!

(continued)

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Launching YourBetsForTraders.com AccountBefore you can begin trading you need to open anaccount. To do this, simply start the Internet browseron your computer and go to the website www.betsfortraders.com. Click on the Join Now link on the right-hand side of the page to reach the Open an Accountform where you can enter your details.

In order to open a valid account, BetsForTraders.comneeds to know who you are and how to contact you. Toproceed, simply enter your title, name, phone number,and a valid email address in the relevant boxes. Youalso need to select a memorable login ID of yourchoice.

It’s illegal to open an account if you’re under18 or resident in the USA.

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� The three most profitable traders are a 38-year-old news-agent from Birmingham, a plumber from Pimlico, and aDevon solicitor.

� Only 6 per cent of clients are women, but on average theymake more money than men.

� Somebody once won seven consecutive bets at odds of19:1, making 2,000 per cent on his money every time.

� The most active client often trades 60 times a day and hasmade substantial profits.

(continued)

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For security purposes, you need to decide on a pass-word and then re-enter it to make sure you haven’tmade a mistake. As an added safeguard, select one ofthe secret questions from the drop-down box and typein the answer below it. Enter a promotional code if youhave one and tick the box to confirm that you agree tothe terms and conditions. Finally, type in the wordappearing in the image box (for security reasons) andclick Open Account.

BetsForTraders.com never asks you for yourpassword or the answer to your security question by email. If you receive a messageasking for this information, always contactBetsForTraders.com before responding.

The last step before you can begin trading is to validateyour identity, so select the link to go to the IdentityValidation form. Enter your name, phone number, anddate of birth when prompted and click on the appropri-ate button to specify whether you’re resident in the UKor overseas.

If you live in the UK the easiest way to complete theaddress section of the form is to enter your postcodeand click on the Lookup facility. You simply select youraddress from the list and click Validate Account. If youlive outside the UK, you may be asked to provide someadditional details.

As soon as you see the Validation Successful message,BetsForTraders.com automatically creates a practiceaccount for you with a virtual $10,000. This enablesyou to experiment and place as many bets as you wantwithout risking any real money.

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When practising, make sure that the currencyselector is always set to V$ for virtual dollars.

Depositing MoneyBefore you can win any real money you need to depositsome funds in your account. To do this, simply click onthe Cashier tab at the top of the page.

A debit or credit card is usually the most con-venient way to fund your account.

Select the credit and debit card option, complete yourcard details, and decide how much you want to pay in.You can deposit in pounds sterling, euros, or US dol-lars. Clicking on Continue means that your card is deb-ited with the relevant amount.

Security is BetsForTraders.com’s top priority.All the information sent from your computerto their servers is encrypted and every possi-ble measure is taken to ensure your privacy. Ifyou’d prefer not to transfer money online youcan call the Payments Hotline on 0800 0789205 or +44 (0) 1624 618 194.

Woohoo! Withdrawing Your WinningsAfter you’ve accumulated some winnings, you may wantto withdraw part of the balance. To do so, click on theCashier tab at the top of the page and select Withdrawals.

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Specify the amount that you want to take out and howyou want to receive it.

You can withdraw funds from your account in a varietyof ways but most people get the money paid directlyback onto their credit/debit card. For a full explanation,select the Help tab from the top of the screen andDeposits & Withdrawals from the menu.

Keeping an Eye on Your Account You can check on the money in your account at anytime; simply click on the My Funds tab at the top of thepage once you’re logged into your account.

When you start trading you can keep track of all youropen bets by selecting the My Positions tab. Each bet isvalued continuously to reflect what’s happening in themarkets and how much time is left before your betexpires. Full details of your previous trades are con-tained in the Trading History facility. This link is avail-able from the orange bar at the top of your Accountpage as soon as you log into your account.

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Part II

Seeing Double with Binary Bets

In This Part� Introducing Binary Bets

� Understanding the price chart

� Closing your bet early

� Profiting from a Binary Range bet

Markets rarely stand still and, regardless ofwhether they move up or down, one of the best

ways to make money from them is with a binary bet. In fact, BetsForTraders.com users actually trade morebinaries than all the other types of bets combined.

A binary bet means that only two outcomes are possi-ble. If you think that the market is going to be above acertain level when the bet expires, either you’re rightand the price finishes higher, or you’re wrong and itcloses lower.

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Click on the Getting Started button for step-by-step instructions on how to use the bettingpage.

If you think that the UK 100 index of leadingUK shares will rise over the next hour, you canuse a binary bet to profit from the increase. Ofcourse, you could alternatively create a binaryto benefit from an expected fall in the market.

Creating a Binary BetHaving logged into your new account, simply click onBinary Bet – the first option on the menu on the left-hand side of the screen. Doing so brings up the bettingpage ready for you to specify the details of the tradethat you want to make.

The first stage is to select the market that you want tobet on. By default the Market Type is set to FOREX andthe Market to EUR/USD. Say you want to change this toplace a bet on the UK 100 index of leading UK shares.To do so, click on the Market Type box and select StockIndex from the drop-down list of available options. The

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Cash or crash?The day on which clients won the most money was in January2008, when the stock market crashed and everyone success-fully bet on it continuing to plummet.

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market automatically changes to the UK 100 Index. Ifyou wanted to bet on another stock market, simplyclick on the box and make your selection.

You can place a Binary Bet on any of the majorcurrencies, stock market indices, or large indi-vidual UK or US company share prices. Justuse the Market Type and then the Marketdrop-down boxes to make your selection.Remember that you can only place bets whenthe underlying market is actually open.

If you want to place a real bet, make sure that theCurrency box matches the currency that you used todeposit the funds in your account. The alternative is tohave a practice run without risking any real money byselecting virtual dollars represented by the V$ symbol.

Having chosen the market you want to bet on, the nextstage is to decide how you think the market will move.Some people decide by looking at the price charts toidentify an important trend, whereas others prefer tocheck the financial news and then decide. To help you,the Indicative Market Price is shown on the right of thepage, and a chart of its recent performance is displayedat the bottom.

Using the Price ChartThe price chart provides an indication of how yourchosen market has been performing. By default theChart Type is set to Candlestick and the Frequency to 1 hour. This enables you to quickly assess the currentsituation.

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The top and bottom of each candlestick indi-cate the high and the low for the period inquestion, while the solid body represents themovement from the opening to the closing ofthat period, with red being a fall and greenbeing an increase.

One of the most popular ways of using the chart is toidentify a strong trend in the market. A line of candle-sticks that move upwards from left to right with succes-sive higher highs indicates a rising trend. Conversely, aline that moves downwards as it goes across the chartwith a stream of lower lows marks a falling trend.

You may have heard the expression ‘the trend is yourfriend’. This means that if a market is in a strong up-trend you’re generally safe to bet on the assumption thatprices will continue to rise. Conversely, if a market is in astrong down-trend that shows no sign of coming to anend, assuming that it will keep falling makes sense.

You can use the Frequency selector just belowthe charts to change the duration of eachperiod. Doing so may help you to uncoverstrong long- or short-term trends that wouldotherwise remain hidden.

Figure 2-1 shows a Binary Bet on the UK 100 Index.

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Figure 2-1: A Binary Bet on the UK 100 Index.

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Placing Your BetSay that you look at the hourly chart of the UK 100Index and see that it’s entered a strong down-trend.You decide that this is likely to continue for at least thenext few hours and that you want to use a Binary Bet tomake money from it.

How much?First, you need to decide how much money you want towin. Remember that the more money you want to win,the more expensive your bet will be. You can experi-ment by using the sliding bar to change the winningsand see what effect this has on the cost, as shown onthe right-hand side of the page. You have no commis-sion, fees, or other charges to worry about so thisamount represents the full price that you have to pay.Say you opt to win £100.

Having identified that the market is declining, the nextstage is to specify that you want to win if it falls below(rather than rises above) a certain level when the betexpires. Use the drop-down arrow to select ‘fall’ andthen drag the sliding bar to the point you choose. Thisis known as the strike price. By default it’s set close tothe current value of the market, but the more youreduce it, the bigger the fall necessary for the bet tosucceed and the cheaper the strike price becomes.

You identify a strong down-trend so you decide tomove the strike price 50 points lower and drag the sliding bar accordingly.

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The sliding bars move in preset amounts. Ifyou have a specific level in mind, simply clickon the orange Set button and enter the figure.

How long? The final stage of the process is to specify how longyou want the bet to last. You can use the drop-downbox to switch between minutes, hours, and days anduse the sliding bar to set the precise duration. Thiscombination enables you to create bets from as little as15 minutes right up to 30 days. In view of the nature ofthe trend you decide to set the time limit to two hours.

A two-hour bet expires in two market hours.Where there’s insufficient time left in the trad-ing day, the bet automatically rolls over to thenext day. The exact expiry time is displayedbelow the indicative market price.

The UK 100 Index is trading at 5400 and youdecide to bet that it will be trading below 5350over the next two hours. You choose to win£100 safe in the knowledge that this only costsyou £29.19.

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Starting slow and steadyStart by selecting relatively modest winnings because thiskeeps the cost of the bet to a minimum. You can increase theamounts as you become more experienced.

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You can never lose more than the amount thatyou decide to bet, which is why BetsForTraders.com is a low-risk way to trade the markets.

The cost of £29.19 is immediately deducted from thefunds in your account. If at the end of the two hoursthe market does close below 5350, you win £100 andyour winnings are automatically credited into youraccount. This means you’ve gained £70.81, which repre-sents a return of over 243 per cent in just two hours.Nice!

(By the way, the return is a standardised measure ofhow profitable the bet would be if it succeeds. It’s calculated as the winnings less the cost of the betexpressed as a percentage of the cost.)

For more information about binaries and all the othertypes of bets available on BetsForTraders.com, simplyclick on the How does this bet work? button on the left-hand side of the page.

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Keeping tabs on bet pricing and oddsYou may have noticed that the bet price and the odds on the right-hand side of the webpage continually change. Thisis because the screen automatically updates to take intoaccount what’s happening in the markets. The webpage is alsofully interactive, so each time you alter the nature of the betby moving the sliding bars, the odds and cost of placing thebet changes. Part V has the lowdown on how you can use thisto your advantage.

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Closing the Bet Early All open bets are priced continuously to reflect what’shappening in the markets and how much time is leftuntil the bet expires. With a Binary Bet you can takeadvantage of these continual updates by closing thebet early. Doing so could enable you to take a profit orto limit your loss to less than your stake.

To close a Binary Bet early, simply go to the My Positionspage which shows the live prices of all the open bets.Selecting the Sell option on the Binary Bet brings the betto an end with the proceeds credited back to youraccount.

Winning Both Ways with a Binary RangeA variation on the Binary Bet is the Binary Range. TheBinary Range provides the opportunity for you to beton whether a market will finish inside or outside a par-ticular price band. Making a Binary Range bet is ideal ifyou believe that the price in question will either beespecially volatile or particularly quiet.

The Euro/US dollar exchange rate has been par-ticularly volatile. If you believe that this variabil-ity is going to continue you can use a BinaryRange bet to make money from the situation.With the market at 1.5879 you can elect to win£100 if in seven days the market is outside therange of 1.56 to 1.61. This relatively low-risk betcosts you £56.85 and if you’re successful willmake a profit of £43.15 (a return of 76 per cent).

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Figure 2-2 shows a Binary Range bet on the Euro/USdollar exchange rate.

Figure 2-2: A Binary Range bet on the Euro/US dollar exchangerate.

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Part III

One for All, and All for One-Touch Betting

In This Part� Creating a One-Touch Bet

� Closing early

� Making the most of One-Touch Range betting

A One-Touch bet is just like a Binary Bet (describedin Part II) but with one key difference. You win the

bet as soon as the market hits the level you set. Onetouch is all it takes for you to get paid. This flexibilityhas enabled clients of BetsForTraders.com to makemore profits from One-Touches than from any of theother types of bet.

Often the biggest price moves follow impor-tant news announcements. If you think thatthe Bank of England is planning to announce a cut in interest rates, you can place a One-Touch Bet on the UK stock market index or thesterling/dollar exchange rate. You can also beton an individual company’s share price aheadof the release of its annual results.

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Creating a One-Touch BetHaving logged into your account, simply click on One-Touch in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.Doing so brings up the betting page ready for you tospecify the details of the trade that you want to make.

The first stage is to select the market you want to beton. By default the Market Type is set to FOREX and theMarket to EUR/USD. Say you want to change this toplace a bet on the sterling/US dollar exchange rate, soyou click in the Market box and select GBP/USD.

Make sure that the Currency box matches thecurrency in your account. Alternatively, have apractice run without risking any real money byselecting virtual dollars represented by the V$symbol.

Now you need to decide how you think the market youwant to bet on is going to move. To help you, use theIndicative Market Price on the right-hand side of thepage and the chart of its recent performance at thebottom.

Placing Your BetSay that you noticed that the sterling/US dollarexchange rate was trading at $1.98 to the pound, butearlier in the year it had been much higher. If youthought that the pound was going to recover above the$2 level you could use a One-Touch Bet as a low-riskway to make money from it.

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How much?First, you need to decide how much money you’d like to win. Choosing a larger amount makes the bet moreexpensive, so start out cautiously by leaving the defaultlevel at £100. You can use the sliding bar to change thefigure and see how this affects the Bet Price, shown onthe right of the page. You have no commission, fees, orother charges so this represents the full price that youpay.

The next stage is to set the strike price (the level thatyou’re confident the market will touch at some pointduring the bet). If you think that GBP/USD will hit $2.02,simply move the sliding bar accordingly or click on theorange Set button and enter the figure you have in mind.

How long?Now you need to say how long you want the bet to last;with a One-Touch Bet this can be anything from 3 to 30 days.

As markets always move around, the longerthe period you choose, the more chance youhave that it will hit your boundary. This meansthat shorter term One-Touches are cheaperand have a higher potential return.

Say you believe that the sterling/US dollarexchange rate will strengthen at some pointover the next 20-day period. The exchangerate is currently standing at $1.98 to thepound and you decide to bet £41.11 to win£100 if it touches $2.02 at any point before thebet expires in 20 days time.

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The stake of £41.11 is immediately deducted from youraccount. If at some point during the next 20 days you’reproved right and the exchange rate does touch $2.02,then you win £100 and the money is automatically cred-ited back to your account. These winnings are equiva-lent to a profit of £58.89, which represents a return of143 per cent on the stake.

Figure 3-1 shows a screenshot of a One-Touch Bet onthe GBP/USD exchange rate.

Figure 3-1: A One-Touch Bet on the GBP/USD exchange rate.

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Closing the Bet Early All open bets are priced continuously to reflect what’shappening in the markets. With a One-Touch Bet youcan take advantage of this by closing the bet early.Doing so could enable you to take a profit or to limityour loss to less than your stake.

The My Positions page shows the live prices of all theopen bets. Selecting the Sell option on the One-Touchbrings your bet to an end with the proceeds creditedback to your account.

Winning Both Ways with a One-Touch RangeA useful variation of the One-Touch Bet is the One-Touch Range – ideal if you have a hunch that a particu-lar market will be subject to a large move, but don’tknow whether the market will move up or down.

Shares in the large US investment group,Goldman Sachs, have been extremely volatile.The chart shows that in the last few monthsthey’ve traded in a wide range from below$154 to over $201. If you believe this uncer-tainty is going to continue you can use a One-Touch Range to make money from it.

To create a One-Touch Range on the share price ofGoldman Sachs, you can use the historic limits of $154and $201 as your upper and lower boundaries. If you’recorrect in predicting that the shares would touch

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either of these levels during the next 10 days, you’d win£100, with the cost of the bet being £35.95.

Figure 3-2 shows a One-Touch Range bet on GoldmanSachs shares.

Figure 3-2: A One-Touch Range bet on Goldman Sachs shares.

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Part IV

Going Hands-free with No-Touch Betting

In This Part� Defining No-Touch betting

� Placing your bet

� Closing your bet early

� Feeling at home on the No-Touch Range

At times a market can go through a quiet periodand simply drift sideways. If you anticipate this

sort of scenario you can use a No-Touch Bet to takeadvantage of it. All you have to do is to specify a levelthat the price will neither touch nor trade past at anypoint during the lifetime of the bet.

If the Wall Street index of leading US shares wastrading at 11240, and you thought that at worstit would fall by less than 150 points during thenext four days, you could create a No-Touch Betspecifying that the index wouldn’t hit 11090.

Creating a No-Touch BetCreating a No-Touch Bet is easy. Log into your accountand click on No-Touch in the menu on the left-hand side

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of the screen. Doing so brings up the betting pageready for you to specify the details of the trade thatyou want to make.

Select the market that you want to bet on – say, theWall Street index of leading US shares. Simply click inthe Market Type box and specify Stock Index from thedrop-down list of available options, and set the Marketto Wall Street.

You can place a No-Touch Bet on any of themajor currencies, stock market indices, orlarge individual UK or US company shareprices. Just use the Market Type and then theMarket drop-down boxes to make your choice.Remember that you can only place bets whenthe underlying market is actually open. Makesure that the Currency box matches the cur-rency that you used to deposit the funds inyour account. Alternatively, have a practicerun by selecting virtual dollars (V$).

Having chosen the market you want to bet on, the nextstage is to decide how you think that market is going to move. To help you make up your mind, see theIndicative Market Price (on the right-hand side of thepage), and the chart of its recent performance (at thebottom of the page).

Placing Your BetMaybe you’re optimistic about the performance of theUS stock market and believe that over the next fewdays it’ll remain firm, never trading at 150 points belowits current level. You opt to use a No-Touch Bet as alow-risk way to make money from this.

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How much?The first step in the process is to decide how muchmoney you’d like to win. Clearly, the bigger the figure,the more expensive the bet will be, so start out fairlymodestly by leaving it at the default level of £100. If youwant, you can use the sliding bar to change the figureand see how this affects the Bet Price (on the right-hand side of the page) or click on the orange Set buttonand enter the figure you have in mind.

The next step is to set the strike price (the level thatyou believe the market will never trade at during thelifetime of the bet). You’re optimistic on the index andyou believe it won’t fall 150 points below its currentlevel of 11240. So you drag the sliding bar to the left toset the boundary at 11090.

How long? Now you need to specify how long you want the bet to last. With a No-Touch Bet any timeframe from 3 to 30 days. As markets always move around, the longerthe period you choose, the lower the odds that theindex will never hit your boundary. This means thatlonger term No-Touches are cheaper and have a higherpotential return.

You have a positive outlook on the US stockmarket. The Wall Street Index is currently trad-ing at 11240 and you decide to bet £47.24 towin £100 on the basis that it won’t touch 11090at any point before your bet expires – youchoose a timeframe of four days.

The cost of £47.24 is immediately deducted from youraccount. If, at the end of the four days, you win the bet,

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then £100 is automatically credited back. This is equiv-alent to a profit of £52.76 (representing a return of 112per cent on the stake).

Figure 4-1 shows a No-Touch Bet on the Wall StreetIndex.

Figure 4-1: A No-Touch bet on the Wall Street Index.

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Closing the Bet Early All open bets are priced continuously to reflect what’shappening in the active markets and show how muchtime is left until the bet expires. With a No-Touch Betyou can take advantage of this by closing the bet earlyto enable you to take a profit or to limit your loss toless than your stake.

To close a No-Touch Bet early, simply go to the MyPositions page, which shows the live prices of all theopen bets. Select the Sell option on the No-Touch Betto bring the bet to an end with the proceeds creditedback to your account.

Winning Both Ways with a No-Touch RangeThe No-Touch Range bet is ideal if you believe that aparticular market will go through a quiet period andremain within an upper and lower boundary for thenext few days. The No-Touch Range is the last item onthe menu on the left-hand side of the page.

The chart shows that shares inGlaxoSmithKline have traded within the rangeof 1050 pence to 1210 pence throughout thelast two months. If you thought that this pat-tern was likely to continue you could use a No-Touch Range to make money from it.

To create a No-Touch Range on GlaxoSmithKline youcould use the historic levels of 1210p and 1050p asyour upper and lower boundaries. If you were correctin predicting that the shares would remain within this

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range for the next, say, 30 days, you’d win £100, withthe cost of the bet being £47.90.

Figure 4-2 shows a screenshot of a No-Touch Range Beton GlaxoSmithKline shares.

All the different types of bets are listed on theleft-hand side of the webpage. Click on thequestion mark symbol to find a detailed expla-nation of how they work.

Figure 4-2: A No-Touch Range bet on GlaxoSmithKline shares.

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Part V

Developing WinningStrategies

In This Part� Keeping tabs on the live price

� Knowing your decimals from your binaries

� Examining the markets

This part gives you some hints and tips about keeping your wits about you to make the most of

betting – and winning – on BetsForTraders.com.

Refining Your BetsThe Bet Price on the right-hand side of the webpagecontinually changes to take into account what is hap-pening in the markets. Also, each time you alter thenature of the bet by moving the sliding bars, the pricegoes either up or down because the live price alwaysreflects the likelihood of the bet succeeding. So if youmove the sliding bars to increase the chance of winning,or the market itself changes to make winning moreprobable, the price to pay for placing the bet increases.

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With BetsForTraders.com you can always seethe actual real-time cost of the bet. This tellsyou the odds or the predicted rate of successthat you’re offered. You can use information tohelp you to decide whether to place the bet orto adjust the parameters to better reflect whatyou think is going to happen.

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Interpreting the oddsThe chances of a bet succeeding are presented on BetsForTraders.com in the form of fractional, decimal, or binary odds.These all tell you exactly the same thing, but some people findit easier to understand one format rather than another. Eachform of odds is shown on the right-hand side of the page andis recalculated every time that you change your bet.

� Fractional odds like 3/1 mean that for every pound staked,three pounds in addition to the one laid are returned if thebet wins. Take the example of a bet of £38.50 that wouldwin £100 if successful. The fractional odds in this casewould be 8/5 because multiplying the stake by the oddsgives the net of cost winnings as £61.50 (£38.5×(8÷5) =£61.50).

� Decimal format odds would show, in this example, as2.60. You work this out by converting the fraction to dec-imals (8/5 = 1.6) and adding one to the result. Multiplyingthe decimal odds and the stake thus produces the totalpayout of £100 (2.6×£38.5 = £100).

� Binary odds show the stake as a percentage of theamount to be paid out if you win the bet. For a payout of£100, the cost of £38.50 would be represented as 38.5 percent (£38.5÷£100 = 38.5 per cent).

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Putting Everything TogetherAll the different types of bets factor in the same chanceof the market going up as going down. This means thatif you can identify a market that’s likely to move in aparticular direction, you stand a good chance ofmaking money.

Having identified the opportunity, maybe by evaluatingthe charts, or reading the financial papers, the nextstage is to create the bet to exploit it. Maybe you feelmore comfortable with openings that offer a goodchance of success, because you’ll probably come outon top most of the time. Or maybe you prefer longshots which, although less likely to win, have high pay-outs so you don’t need to get it right every time tomake a good overall profit.

A really crucial decision is how much you want to riskon each bet. You’re safer to pay more and go for abigger win when the odds are in your favour, but themost important point is that you feel comfortable withwhat you’re doing.

Whatever happens you can never lose morethan the cost of your bet, but never gamblewith money you can’t afford to lose.

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Part VI

Ten Great Tips fromBetsForTraders.com

No For Dummies book is complete without a fun andinformative Part of Tens and this book is no excep-

tion. Read on for my best tips on making the most of –and making money from – BetsForTraders.com.

� Do your homework. Look at what’s happening onthe markets to get a feel for which bets are mostlikely to succeed. You can find all the informationyou need in the newspapers or on websites suchas http://uk.finance.yahoo.com.

� Look ahead. Check the forward-looking financialcalendars to see which major scheduled newsannouncements could affect your bets. You canfind these calendars in most broadsheets and onthe Internet from sites such as http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/news/the_week_ahead.html.

� Use the charts. The charts on www.betsfortraders.com can help you to identify trends.Use this information to help you decide how amarket is likely to move and what sort of betmight succeed.

� Refine your bets. Adjust the parameters of yourbets to reflect what you think is going to happen.

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Remember, the better the odds offered, the moreyou’ll have to pay, so make sure you’re happywith the stake you choose.

� Try low-risk, low return bets. Lower-return betsoffer a good chance of success, so you’ll come outon top most of the time.

� Dabble in high-risk, high return. If you’re experi-enced and can comfortably afford to, you mayprefer to make bets with a lower expected chanceof success but the high returns mean you don’tneed to win too often to make a good overall profit.

� Monitor your open positions. You can sell backearly bets like the Binaries, One-Touches, and No-Touches described in this book to take profitsor limit a loss. By monitoring these bets closelyyou can take advantage of any opportunities thatcome along.

� Remember that your winnings are tax-free.Under current UK legislation all betting profits aretax free. However, laws can change and the rulesin your country of residence may differ to those ofthe UK. Seek further tax advice if you need to.

� Gamble sensibly. BetsForTraders.com supportssensible gambling and enables you to set a self-imposed limit on how much you can bet. To do so,go to your Account Settings and enter the maxi-mum amount of money you’re willing to risk overa particular period of time.

� Enjoy your betting. Betting can be fun and highlyprofitable, but if you feel it’s becoming a problemfor you, BetsForTraders.com staff can advise youon different ways to manage your account and canpoint you in the direction of further help.

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About BetsForTraders.com

BetsForTraders.com is owned and managed by Trinitas Capital (IOM) Ltd. The company is managed by a dedicated team with a diverse range of backgrounds in hedge fund management, derivative trading, banking, and academia.

Based in the Isle of Man in the British Isles, the company is fully licensed to offer financial bets by the Isle of Man government. The Isle of Man is probably the best regulated of all the low tax jurisdictions with a high standard of accountability and numerous player protection laws in place. The Island is a Standard & Poor’s AAA rated jurisdiction and an important global banking centre.

Trinitas Capital (IOM) Ltd. is subject to regular audits, software inspections, and ongoing regulatory scrutiny by the Gambling Supervision Commission. This is combined with the security and confidentiality that you’d expect from a well-regulated offshore jurisdiction.

All funds deposited with BetsForTraders.com are held in a pooled segregated client account and are managed in accordance with the high standards of the Island’s regulations.

£25 bet offer inside to get you started

Financial Betting

ISBN: 978-0-470-74150-4Not for resale

� Find listings of all our books

� Choose from many different subject categories

� Browse our free articles

Includes insider tips on how to create a winning strategy

Set up your BetsForTraders.com account

Take advantage of the many different types of bets

Refine your bets to give yourself the best chance of winning

Explanations in plain

English

‘Get in, get out’

information

Icons and other

navigational aids

A dash of humour and fun

With the compliments of BetsForTraders.com

Limited Edition

Your guide to getting startedon BetsForTraders.comFinancial Betting For Dummies, the low-risk way of making money on BetsForTraders.com, is a user-friendly guide to the world’s most powerful fixed odds financial betting service. In a series of practical steps, this book explains the whole process from setting up an account on the site, to getting to grips with the differ-ent sorts of bets and how best to use them to your advantage.

®