BetTrader Primer
BetTrader is a Betfair API application. It does not currently support the BETDAQ or Matchbook betting exchanges.
BetTrader was designed by sports trader Adam Todd, who became frustrated at the number of mouse clicks that were necessary to place a bet on Betfair (and who developed tendonitis through excessive mouse activity incurred whilst trading on Betfair’s web-based interface). Although the first version of BetTrader, released in 2005, was crude in comparison with later versions, it provided one-click betting on Betfair through a ladder interface and so was a clear improvement over the Betfair web site as far the application’s designer was concerned.
In addition to the ladder interface, BetTrader has the standard, Betfair style, grid interface, which displays five back and lay prices, two more either side than Betfair.
The BetTrader sports interface enables trading across all Betfair markets associated with a particular event. For a football fixture, say, the sports interface enables you to view the full Match Odds market, Correct Score market, Under/Over 2.5 Goals market and so on in a single screen.
One-click betting is available in all three BetTrader interfaces.
BetTrader has three modes:
- Turbo mode
- Training mode
- Free mode
Free mode provides a basic, cost free version of BetTrader with a small subset of the paid for version’s features. In free mode, there’s no ladder interface and the interval at which the Betfair prices refresh is far less than in Turbo mode. The data refresh rate is one of BetTrader’s chief selling points, as it is speed of execution that helps give traders their edge over other Betfair users.
Turbo mode provides all three BetTrader interfaces mentioned earlier (ladder, grid and sports) along with a far faster Betfair data refresh rate (up to 20 Betfair data requests a second), which is why the mode is called Turbo.
Training mode is only available in the Turbo version of the product, and uses a virtual account with which to trade. This enables you to familiarise yourself with BetTrader, albeit without the market reaction associated with real bets.
The Turbo version of BetTrader is available for a free trial period after which you can either purchase a subscription or use the free version of the product. A number of subscription plans are available for BetTrader Turbo: daily, monthly and yearly. The most cost effective plan is a yearly subscription. As with all paid for trading tools, you need to factor into your profit and loss the cost of using BetTrader.
BetTrader is a Windows application, which will run on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Unusually for a betting exchange API application, there is a native version of BetTrader for Apple Mac machines. (With other API applications, you need another application such as VMware to use them on a Mac.) BetTrader for Apple Mac supports on 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks), and 10.10 (Yosemite).
Another difference between BetTrader and the other betting exchange API applications described on this site, is that it runs under a web browser, just like Betfair. BetTrader supports the browsers that are included with Windows and OS X (Internet Explorer and Safari) along with Chrome and Firefox, if you prefer to use those browsers.
