Timely Markets – The Andy Coulson Story
September 7, 2010
Being an small team can really pay off sometimes. I blogged about the Alastair Campbell thing a while back, and in a similar vein, the current media interest in the Andy Coulson/Phone hacking story made an interesting diversion this week from working on the Euro Qualifiers and upcoming horse racing markets.
When the media is heavily covering a story (and as long as it doesn’t violate our editorial guidelines), creating a market around an issue can be a really interesting way to track the mood of the betting public.
The story was whether Andy Coulson would resign from his position in the Conservative Party after the New York Times published an article into whether he was complicit in phone hacking. We opened the market and immediately the momentum was behind ‘yes’. Bloggers blogged and Twitterers tweeted and within an hour it has swung strongly towards ‘no’. Now the market is more settled and it’s gently bobbing around 15% no / 88% yes.
This example is exactly what we love to do at Smarkets; put up markets that captures the public attention and watch as rival opinions and media coverage moves the market in different directions. Whether Coulson will leave or not is up to him, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the ‘wisdom of crowds’ was proved correct.
1% Commission to Celebrate Our First Birthday
September 6, 2010
“We will give the betting industry a real run for their (your) money.” – Jason Trost
A year ago, Smarkets took its first online order for the Fulham vs. Everton fixture. Fulham pulled off an against-the-odds victory and now Smarkets is achieving a similar feat in the betting industry. The company has expanded from an early stage start-up to become one of the fastest growing and most exciting global online betting exchanges with markets covering football, tennis, golf, current affairs, politics and entertainment. Horse racing, cricket, rugby and many other markets are coming soon.
TODAY, TO CELEBRATE THEIR 1ST BIRTHDAY, SMARKETS IS LAUNCHING AN UNPRECEDENTED FLAT 1% COMMISSION RATE TO ANYONE WHO DEPOSITS £100 OR MORE.
At an event at their offices in White Bear Yard – the London hub for start-up enterprises – Jason Trost, CEO and Co-Founder of Smarkets said:
“I am proud with the growth Smarkets has demonstrated in its first year. It has exceeded all expectations. We are delivering an exchange using revolutionary trading technology coupled with market features that punters have been demanding for years. If our current user base is anything to go by, we will be the first company in ten years to give the betting industry a real run for their (your) money. While we have immense respect for the original betting exchanges and the way in which they pioneered peer-to-peer betting over a decade ago, customers are demanding a new and innovative way to bet online. We intend to deliver on this.”
Hunter Morris, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder added:
“We have spent a lot of time with disgruntled punters who have been searching for another trading platform that offers them reliable peer-to-peer betting with quick order executions. Smarkets understands what is required from a sophisticated financial exchange and we have sparked widespread excitement among customers who are cheering on our latest developments.”
Key milestones achieved in the past year include:
- Established as the only online betting exchange to allow instant in-play betting.
- Month-on-month double digit growth in the amount traded.
- The freedom for punters to bet using their own odds format.
- Social features including leaderboards and live commentary during in-play markets.
- Users can trade in and out of markets more easily by seeing their current cash positions.
We now show market depth!
September 2, 2010
We conducted a survey a few weeks ago and one of the top features you asked for was market depth. So we’ve built it!
Rather than over complicate our standard interface, at the top of every market you’ll see a link to ‘show market depth’. This will take you to a new, more advanced layout. The market depth view is a way of seeing exactly where the money is in the market so you can see exactly how much will be matched. We’ll be putting together a video to explain the market depth view in more detail once we’ve ironed out any kinks.
We’re showing three levels of depth for both bids and offers (‘for’ and ‘against’ in Smarkets terminology) and, differing from other market-based betting sites, we show the amount of money you need to place to match the bet. We’re also showing your profit and loss for each market so you can see exactly which positions you have and how much you’d stand to win/lose depending on different outcomes.
We hope you find this view useful and, as ever, we’d love to hear your feedback.
Sneak Peak: Market Depth!
September 2, 2010
Currently in test, launching soon….
