How to Spread Bet
Big Gains No Pains Guides - How to Spread Bet
Taking into account the basic rules of betting available in our other How To Guide - we will now extend this practice into Spread Betting - a more diverse and risky faction of Betting.
Be aware that this can also be known as Fixed Odds Betting or Money-Line Betting at various online branches.
Rather than betting against the Bookkeeper in a Win/Lose situation - you get paid depending on how much you Win or Lose by.
For Example - a Spread Betting company is offering bets on a Football Game. Now they are taking bets on how many goals will be scored in a match between Team X and Team Y. Since both teams have a good record of scoring the company have estimated that there will be, as an average, 2.2-2.4 Goals. Now of course this sounds ludicrous as you cannot have a non-integer goal number - but for the sake of betting - this is the betting stake against which you can wager. Now let's say that you bet £20 here that there will be more than 2.4 goals - since you have been watching Team Y and they have been scoring a lot recently. So the match plays out and sure enough there are 5 goals with Team Y winning 4-1 against Team X. Here comes the trickier part. Your rate of return is now calculated on the difference between the bet laid out and the result that your predicted correctly. To work out your return - here is the formula.
5 (The Number of Goals Scored) - 2.4 (The Number Offered) = 2.6 - This figure is now multiplied by your stake giving £52 - so your return is your original £20 + £32 profit.
There is one very important thing to now take into account. Let us say that you had a change of heart before the game and assumed there would not be many goals - and you had bet £20 on there being less than 2.2 goals. Unlike normal betting - the money that you stake is not necessarily all you can lose here. In fact the formula goes against you now
5 (The Number of Goals Scored) - 2.2 (The Number Offered) = 2.8 - This figure is now multiplied by your stake giving £56 - rather than losing just the £20 you wagered - you have in fact lost a further £36 meaning your total loss on this bet is £56!
This seems daunting but one must always be exceptionally aware before they place a spread bet - losses can come much higher. Take Example 2 - there is a heated match coming up between Chelsea and Arsenal and there are bound to be cards in a grudge match/derby so you decide to bet on this... Now let us say that Yellow Cards are worth 10 points and Red Cards are worth 25 points. The Bookkeepers are adamant that there will be a lot of cards and guess there will be 70-75 points accrued during the match. You again have two options - you can Buy High assuming there will be more than this - or Sell Low meaning that you believe there will be less than this. Either way the wager is a much riskier one than the last one. So you decide to wager that same £20 and see where your luck takes you. Now this time you think that even if it is a grudge match - there will not be that many problems and you Sell Low - AND let's say you catch a lucky break and there is just 1 Yellow Card in the entire game. In order to work out your profit we apply the same formula.
70 (The Number of Points Offered from Cards) - 25 (The Number of Actual Points from Cards) = 55 - Multiply this by your £20 stake and you will have your winning figure at a Massive £1,100. That's £1,080 pure profit.
However - what if the game turned out differently. What if it was a bloodbath and there had been 3 Red Cards and 8 Yellow Cards ... That's 155 Points! Here is where the real problems arise - here is your new formula.
155 (The Number of Actual Points from Cards) - 70 (The Number of Points Offered from Cards) = 85 - Multiply this by your £20 stake and you have a loss at £1,700! That means on top of losing your £20 Bet - you have actually just lost a further £1,680 and what seemed like a small bet, doesn't seem so small all of a sudden.
Of course like betting there are loads of different markets to choose from - Sports, Financial, Politics e.t.c
There is one minor adjustment in Finances however that can stop you from losing an awful lot of money. Unlike some of these smaller bets - Financial Trading is not a fixed-odd as it is ongoing. If I was betting on the FTSE100 for example and took a shine to a volatile bank such which we shall call Bank A - I may bet £50 per point that the trading price will go up (that means £50 for every penny the share moves against its' current price or the Bookkeepers offer if it is different). Now let's imagine the share price and offer price is 1191p. If there is a massive crisis and the banks share price start tumbling in the hundreds and closes the day at 489p - I would be in tremendous trouble. By those calculations and my open Bet - I would have just lost £35,100! There is no way I would want to risk something so drastic so I employ a function called a 'Stop-Loss.' This means that if I set my maximum loss potential to £1,000 - then by the time the shares had fallen to 1171p - my bet would have been settled and any future point drops would not affect me as my Maximum Potential Loss of £1,000 had been reached. This is always an advised option as it means your loss can be restricted to only what you can afford. Remember however - and this is not to deter you - that if you enforce this 'Stop-Loss' and the points, having fallen to 489p suddenly shot back by a miracle to 1,402p per share - you will not take any profit and you will still have to settle a £1,000 loss. It is always best to keep an eye on your wagers and ensure that you can only wager what you can afford to lose!
For more examples of How To Spread Bet or to check out a site where you can have a go yourself - check out our links on the Left-Hand menu or alternatively see our proposed selection(s) below. (Remember most of these sites have a 'Play for Fun' choice and you should always try this before you start if you are inexperienced as it will demonstrate the full risk of your bets)
Taking into account the basic rules of betting available in our other How To Guide - we will now extend this practice into Spread Betting - a more diverse and risky faction of Betting.
Be aware that this can also be known as Fixed Odds Betting or Money-Line Betting at various online branches.
Rather than betting against the Bookkeeper in a Win/Lose situation - you get paid depending on how much you Win or Lose by.
For Example - a Spread Betting company is offering bets on a Football Game. Now they are taking bets on how many goals will be scored in a match between Team X and Team Y. Since both teams have a good record of scoring the company have estimated that there will be, as an average, 2.2-2.4 Goals. Now of course this sounds ludicrous as you cannot have a non-integer goal number - but for the sake of betting - this is the betting stake against which you can wager. Now let's say that you bet £20 here that there will be more than 2.4 goals - since you have been watching Team Y and they have been scoring a lot recently. So the match plays out and sure enough there are 5 goals with Team Y winning 4-1 against Team X. Here comes the trickier part. Your rate of return is now calculated on the difference between the bet laid out and the result that your predicted correctly. To work out your return - here is the formula.
5 (The Number of Goals Scored) - 2.4 (The Number Offered) = 2.6 - This figure is now multiplied by your stake giving £52 - so your return is your original £20 + £32 profit.
There is one very important thing to now take into account. Let us say that you had a change of heart before the game and assumed there would not be many goals - and you had bet £20 on there being less than 2.2 goals. Unlike normal betting - the money that you stake is not necessarily all you can lose here. In fact the formula goes against you now
5 (The Number of Goals Scored) - 2.2 (The Number Offered) = 2.8 - This figure is now multiplied by your stake giving £56 - rather than losing just the £20 you wagered - you have in fact lost a further £36 meaning your total loss on this bet is £56!
This seems daunting but one must always be exceptionally aware before they place a spread bet - losses can come much higher. Take Example 2 - there is a heated match coming up between Chelsea and Arsenal and there are bound to be cards in a grudge match/derby so you decide to bet on this... Now let us say that Yellow Cards are worth 10 points and Red Cards are worth 25 points. The Bookkeepers are adamant that there will be a lot of cards and guess there will be 70-75 points accrued during the match. You again have two options - you can Buy High assuming there will be more than this - or Sell Low meaning that you believe there will be less than this. Either way the wager is a much riskier one than the last one. So you decide to wager that same £20 and see where your luck takes you. Now this time you think that even if it is a grudge match - there will not be that many problems and you Sell Low - AND let's say you catch a lucky break and there is just 1 Yellow Card in the entire game. In order to work out your profit we apply the same formula.
70 (The Number of Points Offered from Cards) - 25 (The Number of Actual Points from Cards) = 55 - Multiply this by your £20 stake and you will have your winning figure at a Massive £1,100. That's £1,080 pure profit.
However - what if the game turned out differently. What if it was a bloodbath and there had been 3 Red Cards and 8 Yellow Cards ... That's 155 Points! Here is where the real problems arise - here is your new formula.
155 (The Number of Actual Points from Cards) - 70 (The Number of Points Offered from Cards) = 85 - Multiply this by your £20 stake and you have a loss at £1,700! That means on top of losing your £20 Bet - you have actually just lost a further £1,680 and what seemed like a small bet, doesn't seem so small all of a sudden.
Of course like betting there are loads of different markets to choose from - Sports, Financial, Politics e.t.c
There is one minor adjustment in Finances however that can stop you from losing an awful lot of money. Unlike some of these smaller bets - Financial Trading is not a fixed-odd as it is ongoing. If I was betting on the FTSE100 for example and took a shine to a volatile bank such which we shall call Bank A - I may bet £50 per point that the trading price will go up (that means £50 for every penny the share moves against its' current price or the Bookkeepers offer if it is different). Now let's imagine the share price and offer price is 1191p. If there is a massive crisis and the banks share price start tumbling in the hundreds and closes the day at 489p - I would be in tremendous trouble. By those calculations and my open Bet - I would have just lost £35,100! There is no way I would want to risk something so drastic so I employ a function called a 'Stop-Loss.' This means that if I set my maximum loss potential to £1,000 - then by the time the shares had fallen to 1171p - my bet would have been settled and any future point drops would not affect me as my Maximum Potential Loss of £1,000 had been reached. This is always an advised option as it means your loss can be restricted to only what you can afford. Remember however - and this is not to deter you - that if you enforce this 'Stop-Loss' and the points, having fallen to 489p suddenly shot back by a miracle to 1,402p per share - you will not take any profit and you will still have to settle a £1,000 loss. It is always best to keep an eye on your wagers and ensure that you can only wager what you can afford to lose!
For more examples of How To Spread Bet or to check out a site where you can have a go yourself - check out our links on the Left-Hand menu or alternatively see our proposed selection(s) below. (Remember most of these sites have a 'Play for Fun' choice and you should always try this before you start if you are inexperienced as it will demonstrate the full risk of your bets)
