Glossary of Terms
Back
A Back bet pays out when the horse wins.
Backer
Somebody that has placed or is trying to place a Back bet believing that the horse will win
Bid
In financial markets the price consists of bids and offers. The bids are the amounts of money wanting to buy at certain prices and the Offers are amounts of money wanting to sell at certain prices. The price is where the bids and the offers meet. On Betfair I refer to the Lay amounts on the left side of the price as bids.
Filled
This is another term for matched which means that somebody has taken the bet that I was asking for.
Hedge
Pressing the Hedge button makes sure that I make an equal profit on the race regardless of whether the horse on which I was trading on wins or loses. A hedge is achieved by dividing the potential profit on the horse if it wins by the best available to Lay odds and Laying the result of that calculation.
Lay
A Lay bet pays out when the horse loses.
Layer
Somebody that has placed or is trying to place a Lay bet because they believe that the horse will lose.
Matched
When 2 counterparties agree on an amount and price for a bet.
Momentum
Momentum refers to how the price of the horse is moving. If the price is not moving much or is going in no particular direction it has no momentum. When the price is moving quickly in one direction, either up or down, it has momentum.
Offer
A term borrowed from the financial markets, Offers refers to the amount of money wanting to sell at a certain prices. On Betfair I refer to the Back amounts on the right side of the price as Offers.
Queue
All of the bids and offers on each price are ordered in a first come first served queuing system. Orders that were placed first go to the front of the queue and orders placed after them go behind them. When a price is trading and amounts are getting matched the amounts at the front of the queue get matched in order according to their position in the queue.
Resistance
A resistance level is a term from the financial markets which refers to a certain price level which the market has difficulty rising through.
Scratch
A scratch trade is where I Lay and Back the same amount of money at the same price on the same horse.
Spoof
A spoof order is where a large Lay or Back order is placed into the market with the intention of making it look like the price will go one way, which is then suddenly cancelled.
Support
A support level is a financial markets term which refers to a price level that the market cannot easily drop through, giving support to the price.
Tick
A tick is the minimum price movement possible.
Traded
Traded is another term for matched.
Weight of Money
The weight of money is an indication of where the price might go by how much more money is on the Lay side than the Back side, and vice versa.