The years before the start of the current financial crisis saw many new people enter the financial markets as active participants. What had once been the exclusive domain of brokers and financial experts was opened to a wide range of people via online "self-service" trading platforms, "over the counter" trading bots, and other new tools that radically improved market access for the average person. While many people confined their new-found access to managing their retirement plans or corporate stock purchase plans online; many others expanded into full blown trading.
With the advent of the financial crisis and the liquidity crunch, much of this new activity ground to a halt. Market volatility meant that even professionals were at a loss regarding what trades to make, leaving most of the amateurs completely in the dark. Well funded speculators took advantage of this by using the herding tendency that arises in troubled times by making diverse investments, waiting for everyone else to follow their lead - thereby adding money to the investment - and then suddenly dumping it for a profit. Such speculation was rife during the latter part of 2008 on the commodities markets and many amateurs, lacking the inside knowledge of when to dump the investment, found themselves taken for a ride. This drove even more of the new market players out of the arena.
Nevertheless, the skills - and even many of the same tools - that enabled amateurs to enter the financial markets remain valuable if one can find the proper arena in which to use them. The stock and bond markets remain extremely unstable and best left to experts with access to the relevant data and experience and the same holds true for the currency markets (Forex). While the commodity markets have stabilized due to the threat of government intervention, most of the minor players have been excluded as part of the stabilization process. Despite this, markets where the small independent investor can operate freely and make a profit do still exist. One example is the penny share (or penny stock in the US) arena and another is the betting exchange market.
The user friendliness of the online betting exchanges, the low capitalization requirements, and potential to exploit poor decisions by amateur punters all mean that the betting exchanges are likely to maintain their current levels of activity - or even see some growth - as the financial crisis continues. For the experienced trader, the betting exchanges can be played in almost the same way as the futures markets. The primary difference being that the determining factor is the future outcome of a particular sporting event (or cycle of events) as opposed to the future value of a commodity. While the terminology differs, and there will be a learning curve involved, trading on a betting exchange is very similar to trading on a futures exchange and many of the same strategies are mutually applicable. There are straightforward punters betting on one side or the other of an upcoming sporting event, but there are also traders buying and selling bets.
With a bit of research and patience, one can easily apply the same skills - and even some of the same tools - that one acquired on the financial markets to the betting exchanges. Low capitalization requirements mean that even a person with a small amount of available cash can actively trade. Further, while many people with a financial background have entered the betting exchanges, the primary counterparties are professional punters and bookmakers, or people that are looking at the bets from an entirely different perspective than a financial trader. As the betting exchanges are projected to continue doing well throughout the financial crisis and the mechanics of trading remains similar enough, the resourceful trader might find a golden opportunity by moving out of the financial markets and into the betting exchanges.
With the advent of the financial crisis and the liquidity crunch, much of this new activity ground to a halt. Market volatility meant that even professionals were at a loss regarding what trades to make, leaving most of the amateurs completely in the dark. Well funded speculators took advantage of this by using the herding tendency that arises in troubled times by making diverse investments, waiting for everyone else to follow their lead - thereby adding money to the investment - and then suddenly dumping it for a profit. Such speculation was rife during the latter part of 2008 on the commodities markets and many amateurs, lacking the inside knowledge of when to dump the investment, found themselves taken for a ride. This drove even more of the new market players out of the arena.
Nevertheless, the skills - and even many of the same tools - that enabled amateurs to enter the financial markets remain valuable if one can find the proper arena in which to use them. The stock and bond markets remain extremely unstable and best left to experts with access to the relevant data and experience and the same holds true for the currency markets (Forex). While the commodity markets have stabilized due to the threat of government intervention, most of the minor players have been excluded as part of the stabilization process. Despite this, markets where the small independent investor can operate freely and make a profit do still exist. One example is the penny share (or penny stock in the US) arena and another is the betting exchange market.
The user friendliness of the online betting exchanges, the low capitalization requirements, and potential to exploit poor decisions by amateur punters all mean that the betting exchanges are likely to maintain their current levels of activity - or even see some growth - as the financial crisis continues. For the experienced trader, the betting exchanges can be played in almost the same way as the futures markets. The primary difference being that the determining factor is the future outcome of a particular sporting event (or cycle of events) as opposed to the future value of a commodity. While the terminology differs, and there will be a learning curve involved, trading on a betting exchange is very similar to trading on a futures exchange and many of the same strategies are mutually applicable. There are straightforward punters betting on one side or the other of an upcoming sporting event, but there are also traders buying and selling bets.
With a bit of research and patience, one can easily apply the same skills - and even some of the same tools - that one acquired on the financial markets to the betting exchanges. Low capitalization requirements mean that even a person with a small amount of available cash can actively trade. Further, while many people with a financial background have entered the betting exchanges, the primary counterparties are professional punters and bookmakers, or people that are looking at the bets from an entirely different perspective than a financial trader. As the betting exchanges are projected to continue doing well throughout the financial crisis and the mechanics of trading remains similar enough, the resourceful trader might find a golden opportunity by moving out of the financial markets and into the betting exchanges.
