'In running' betting is one of the big advantages of spread betting. It's fascinating watching a sporting event unfold and seeing how the event's 'spreads' for different bets change second by second or point by point -depending upon what is or isn't happening.
The big benefit of 'in running' betting is that you can get in or out of a bet during the course of the event, tournament or season -taking profits or cutting any losses at the right time.
Euro 2008 Example:
All of the games are live and are traded in running, as will the 'special tournament bets' which are updated at the end of each day.
For example - The Total Tournament Goals Index had been quoted at 76-78. This means if you think there will not be many goals in the tournament you would sell at 76, or a lot of goals, you would buy at 78.
Say you have brought at 78 for £5 per goal. After each game the spread firm will offer a new price for 2 reasons:
1. To attract new punters to the bet
2. To offer the facility for people who have already had a bet to close their position. The new quote will depend upon the result of the last game. A high scoring game will see the new spread price increase and a low scoring game see it decrease.
If after 10 games there had been 38 goals with some high scoring early games, the new quote may be 89-92. This means that you could close your bet at 89 and make a profit of £55 (89 - selling price - minus 78 - the price you brought at = 11 x £5 = £55). You could then sit back and enjoy the rest of the tournament with a profit in your pocket.
BUT, the rest of the tournament may see many more high scoring games and the index may end up at say 105. In this case you would have made more had you let your bet ride.
Conversely, lots of close, low-scoring games in the rest of the tournament could also see the index finish at 69, in which case you have lost £45 (78 - 69 = 9 x £5) had you let your bet ride. So it pays to keep an eye on your positions.
Here's an example from a LIVE game:
If you watch a football match for the first 10 minutes, and nasty tackles are flying in and tempers getting flared, you can enter the 'bookings' market -hoping the bad tempers will translate into the referee brandishing red and yellow cards.
The bookings index doesn't usually rise until there is a booking -no matter how nasty it looks, so get in there before the ref can get his cards out!
You'll usually find that the market suspended for a few seconds if there is a bad challenge -so the spread firms can alter the spread after seeing what action the officials take for the offence. Conversely, if you have been a buyer of bookings before the match began and half an hour into the game, both teams are playing like it's a friendly, you could decide to cut your losses and close the bet by selling at the sell price.
You will lose, (probably around 15 points) but nowhere near as much as you would if you let the bet run to the end of the game in which there were no bookings (around 50 points).
Trading 'in running' allows you can take any profit whenever you want. So, let's say you have been a buyer of an index in an event, and it starts exactly how you predicted, with lots of goals, bookings, runs, tries etc. Then the 'in running' spread will move up accordingly. You could then close all or part of your bet to lock in some profit, for example:
An Example of Taking Profits'In Running'
You have been a buyer of 'shirt numbers' in the Arsenal v Everton match (the 'shirts' index is the goal scorers shirt numbers in the game -added together). As the game starts, the spread is fairly high (51-54) because Adebayor's number is 25, Walcott's 32 and Yakubu's 26 etc.
You have bought for £4 per point at 54, in the hope that there will be plenty of goals. After 5 minutes the spread has dropped a couple of points to 49-52 as there have been no goals (so you could buy or sell at this point), but then Walcott (no.32) scores. The new spread rises to 81-84.
Should you wish, you could close your bet immediately by selling at £4 point at 81 (the new sell price) and lock in your profit which would be (81 - 54) = 27 points x £4 = £108 - in just 5 minutes!!
You can then sit back and watch the game knowing that you have made your money regardless of what then happens. You could also close part of your bet, by selling at 81 for any amount between £1-£4 per point, thereby locking in part of your profit and letting the remainder ride on the match.
'In running' operates in all live events. Try watching a football match on Sky Sports 1 and watch the prices changes during the course of the event - on the sporting index website. Using this facility, you can also trade in/out of bets online. 'In running' bets apply to all sports that are televised. Please visit the spread firms websites for further details using the links above or on the left navigation bar.
