Smarkets begins closing successful accounts

[Online Trader]

So it looks as though Betfair will continue to be the only viable exchange as it sounds as though S Markets are talking the talk but not walking the walk, shame really

Perhaps they are just waiting to be bought by one of the main stream bookmakers

[james19]

Hi Guys,

There seems to have been a rather big misunderstanding between myself and Smarkets.

I do not believe that I ever made "thinly veiled threats against their license". I merely said to the CEO that I didn't believe it was right for Smarkets to be telling me how to trade, and when the CEO suggested that he would freeze my account if he had to (a threat which now appears to contradict the public statements they are putting out), I merely stated that I would make a complaint to the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) Malta in that eventuality. Upon receiving the news that my account had been closed I went ahead and lodged a complaint with the LGA, which is well within any player's rights as per the LGA Player's Charter.

This is the first time I have heard that my threat to complain to the LGA was the trigger that caused account to be closed. Whatever the true reason is, I still feel my account closure was grossly unjustified and should be reversed.

[CaerMyrddin]

I believe in you, imho smarkets didn't make any considerable point, they were never able to give a reasonable and legitimate explanation on why they suspended your account.

[giulio2010]

I am with James19 too..

I believe in you, imho smarkets didn't make any considerable point, they were never able to give a reasonable and legitimate explanation on why they suspended your account.

The people of this forum always evaluate carefully the dynamics of certain issues and there is a very good balance in making judgments. By reading all the comments I'm sure that 99% of participants did not receive adequate responses from smarkets and recognize the case of James as an unfair and detrimental to the image of the site. If smarkets wanted to differentiate themselves from Betfair, smarkets could retrace their steps and demonstrate a relationship with their customers to be comprehensive and admirable. Don't look just at our venality, but also look at our appreciation of a good gesture if James19 account would be reinstated... In other words, I advise smarkets to evaluate all advices posted on this forum by people of high intelligence (expect me ) which are only waiting a good betfair competitor...For what I have seen, the way smarkets are dealing with the issue is certainly counterproductive, if your plan was to attract new customers from this forum..

[Iron]

Smarkets might be a good option if you are a successful punter who wants to bet or lay very large sums of money but avoid the Premium Charge. But if you're a consistently successful trader, then from what I've read in this thread I'd say that Smarkets isn't a viable long-term option.

Jeff

[james19]

Comment deleted by user

[pdupre1961]

James19,

What software do you use to do your arbing....

[steven1976]

James19,

What software do you use to do your arbing....

Id imagine this would be one thing that could upset market makers if they were busy trading on BF and they had something running on auto that was lagging behind bf during a busy period.

[steven1976]

Anyway, good luck with your case. Hopefully, Smarkets will reverse their desicion as this wont encourage people to pop over there, so as they have stated they look out for what is good for their business long term.

[LeTiss]

It's clear Smarkets are struggling to make the impact they were hoping for, and they rely on maintaining relationships with significant market makers, because without their liquidity, Smarkets would disappear

Thinking out aloud therefore, I imagine the kind of trader that will cause problems, are the ones who through BF and varius fixed odds bookmakers have noticed a definite price movement on a selection, and the MM's in Smarkets haven't moved their prices yet.

If you just rip into the money they're offering and clear them out, they are in trouble. There isn't enough liquidity in Smarkets for them to recover their positions, so you could easily force them to take your green up position.

I suspect these are the traders that Smarkets are having issues with. However, just closing them down is truly terrible move by Smarkets, as they are clearly never going to be a viable alternative to BF

[giulio2010]

Thinking out aloud therefore, I imagine the kind of trader that will cause problems, are the ones who through BF and varius fixed odds bookmakers have noticed a definite price movement on a selection, and the MM's in Smarkets haven't moved their prices yet.

Aren't smarkets, betfair and betdaq all managed by the same market makers? The price is always the same on all 3 exchanges..There are differences sometimes but the gap between one exchange or other are quickly fullfilled..
Perhaps on smarkets like you said, they can't do it quickly enough because lack of liquidity...
All 3 exchanges are unfair, because they give benefits to market makers and nothing to those who have also made their success, punters and traders...
P.s. check the graphs here, at 7,39am to 7,41am, betfair had higher odds of Betdaq for the home-win by 3 ticks while smarkets was always at the same odds of betfair throw all day but with a significant gap between 1st and second odds available..so If I took all 500 on 1,87 and I pushed the price up to 1,84 by placing an other 1000, the market makers will lose money because the odds will may never go back to 1,87 because lack of liquidity? So why those smarkets market makers are placing the same amount of money waiting the queue that are on betfair? isn't suicide?...It's like placing 10000 on a australian horse race which will not go in play..if by accident your 10000 are taken, the chance of recovering or close your position are close to 0%..

[freddy]

Why would they all need to be managed by the same market makers ?, they all just follow Betfair's price movements directly.

yes there are small arbs available between the exchanges if your lightning quick, and if smarkets market makers are getting picked off like this, then i can see why they don't want their custom at this time.

you don't even need to be an arber necessarily to cause them trouble, taking any out of line price would have the same effect over time.

[giulio2010]

You are right but why placing the same amount of money in the queue...I think is crazy

Why would they need to be managed by the same people ?,

they all just follow Betfair's price movements .

[freddy]

I almost exclusively trade soccer markets. I use models to appraise value with the view of entering and exiting the market for profit.

James when you found value with your model,
how were the prices on Smarkets when compared with Betfair and the other exchanges in general.

were you taking better prices on smartmarkets ?
ie they were out of line with the rest.

[maycontainnuts]

I was curious about this as well. I looked at smarkets but it seemed the pricing was the same as elsewhere. So interested in why James was using them?