Reading the order book without guessing

The order book is just a sorted list of what other customers are currently willing to do. Once you can read it, the two-column board stops looking like noise: each row is a price, a size, and a promise that exists only while that order rests.

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What a row means

A row in the book carries exactly three pieces of information, and it is worth being pedantic about all three.

The priceThe odds at which that customer is willing to trade. Prices are often shown with more decimal places than a sportsbook uses, because the market moves in small steps.
The sizeThe amount of money available at that price — not a limit on what you can bet, but the amount that will fill instantly. A larger order eats several rows and fills at a worse average price.
The sideBack or lay. A back order is money waiting to be matched by a layer; a lay order is money waiting to be matched by a backer.

An order you cannot see is not available

The book shows what is resting at that instant. Orders are matched, cancelled and replaced constantly, so a price you saw a moment ago may be gone by the time your order arrives — which is why an order can fill only partly, or not at all.

The spread and the queue

The gap between the best back price and the best lay price is the spread. To trade in and out immediately you have to cross it twice, which is why a market that looks “only a tick apart” can still cost you money to trade.

Back — what buyers offerLay — what sellers ask

3.10£25

3.15£140

3.05£120

3.20£70

3.00£260

3.25£210

Illustrative. Crossing the spread means accepting the price on the other side: a backer buying now pays 3.10, while someone wishing to sell back out immediately would have to accept 3.15 at best.

Best back price Best lay price Spread = the cost of crossing

Unmatched orders

Part of your order can sit in the book while the rest is matched — this is normal and it is the single most misunderstood part of exchange betting. Nothing is staked on the unmatched part, and it can be cancelled at any time before it is filled.

What the exchange does

Match whatever is available at your price at the moment your order arrives
Leave the remainder resting in the queue until you cancel it or it fills
Show you a running total of matched and unmatched amounts

What it does not do

Reserve the price you saw on screen before you clicked
Guarantee that an unmatched remainder ever fills
Charge you anything for an order that never matched

The awkward side of the trade

Most people arrive at an exchange to back. Laying is where the liability lives, and where careless trades do the damage.

What laying means

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