I'm an avid Smarkets user and believe(d) it will storm past Betfair one day when their markets have sufficient liquidity.
I have been managing to get bets on even obscure football matches (I'm a huge footy fan and this is my area of interest) for the last year or so. However, within the last couple of weeks, something has changed and there is no money available on the football markets!! Well, unless you want to back at 1.0001 or lay at 10,000.
Previously I could always get a bet on at a sensible price. So what has happened? Have the market makers left? To compete with Betfair, the most important thing for Smarkets to have is good liquidity!!!!
Smarkets - where did the liquiduty go?
Thanks for the reply Bluesky.
Yes we are out if season now for most of Europe, but there are still around 300 football matches listed on Smarkets for the week ahead.
I've also noticed that on the markets where sensible prices are available, I'm only getting matched for a few pence now, whereas previously it would always be a few quid.
I occasionally branch out into darts and basketball - I see the same seems to have happened here.
Smarkets have been putting (directly or indirectly) money into the markets. This makes perfect sense as it is the only way to compete with Betfair and encourage people to move across. That is why Smarkets has had more success than Betdaq etc. If they are now changing strategy, I think this is a huge mistake! Too soon!
Yes we are out if season now for most of Europe, but there are still around 300 football matches listed on Smarkets for the week ahead.
I've also noticed that on the markets where sensible prices are available, I'm only getting matched for a few pence now, whereas previously it would always be a few quid.
I occasionally branch out into darts and basketball - I see the same seems to have happened here.
Smarkets have been putting (directly or indirectly) money into the markets. This makes perfect sense as it is the only way to compete with Betfair and encourage people to move across. That is why Smarkets has had more success than Betdaq etc. If they are now changing strategy, I think this is a huge mistake! Too soon!
This thread is worth a read
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15419&start=110
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15419&start=110
I expect one or more of the market makers realised they were losing money (perhaps you were winning?) on these obscure matches and decided to pull out, meaning other market makers needn't be competitive anymore, or they were the only competitive market maker in the first place.
That's the trouble with market makers or artificially introduced liquidity - they'll stop offering liquidity if they lose. For a market to be sustainable it needs a constant source of recreational money. I doubt that Smarkets will have that yet on the smaller markets.
That's the trouble with market makers or artificially introduced liquidity - they'll stop offering liquidity if they lose. For a market to be sustainable it needs a constant source of recreational money. I doubt that Smarkets will have that yet on the smaller markets.
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Possible the source they leech prices from has gone on holiday or knocked those markets on the head. You'd need to look to see what the situation with the markets is on Betfair, see if the liquidity has gone there too.
I think that is what Betfair are reliant on really and why they remain dominant.xitian wrote: ↑Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:29 pmThat's the trouble with market makers or artificially introduced liquidity - they'll stop offering liquidity if they lose. For a market to be sustainable it needs a constant source of recreational money. I doubt that Smarkets will have that yet on the smaller markets.
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That's the power of being a "first mover" and why they don't feel the need to unbutton their kimonoEuler wrote: ↑Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:00 pmI think that is what Betfair are reliant on really and why they remain dominant.xitian wrote: ↑Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:29 pmThat's the trouble with market makers or artificially introduced liquidity - they'll stop offering liquidity if they lose. For a market to be sustainable it needs a constant source of recreational money. I doubt that Smarkets will have that yet on the smaller markets.