4. Basic Features

4.1 Market Navigation Tree

BinarySoft BDI uses a "tree" to enable navigation of all binary Betfair markets. Initially the tree appears "unexpanded", showing all available event types on the current exchange.

You can leave multiple "nodes" in the tree expanded simultaneously if you want to quickly switch between markets.

Each time you click the Refresh Markets button, the list of markets is updated and the tree is automatically expanded to the currently selected market, if one is selected.

Please note that only markets which are available on the currently selected exchange are shown in the navigation tree. For example, if you are currently logged in to the UK exchange and you want to view all the Australian markets, you will need to log in to the Australian exchange. Also note that the Tradefair financial markets are only available on the UK exchange.

4.2 The Binary Price Ladder

4.2.1 Overview

The binary price ladder is the central focus of the interface. All of the bets on the underlying Betfair market are converted into binary prices and displayed on the ladder.

N.B. Clicking anywhere in the blue "Buy" column or pink "Sell" column will place an order; this will be fully explained in a later section of this guide.

The "Selection to win" section immediately above the ladder confirms which selection you are trading.

In this ladder example we are trading a tennis match involving Roger Federer. If Federer wins the match, the market settles at a level of 100; if he loses the match, the market settles at a level of 0.

Any existing buy orders for Federer are displayed in the blue "Buy" column of the ladder; any existing sell orders are in the pink "Sell" column.

In this example there are current buy orders on the market amounting to 7.22 per point at a binary price of 77.0 - in other words, you could try to sell at 77.0 and there would be a good chance of your order being matched, so there is a total of 7.22/point "waiting to be sold" at 77.0.  Further down the ladder, there is 8.09/point available at 76.5 and 6.87/point available at 76.0.

On the other side of the ladder, there are a total of 13.90 per point of current sell orders at a binary price of 77.5 - i.e. there is 13.90/point "waiting to be bought" at 77.5. Further up the ladder, there is 47.03/point at 78.0 and 145.13/point at 78.5.

If any of this terminology is unclear, or if you are not fully familiar with binary prices and stakes expressed "per point", then please see Section 2. Binary Prices.

4.2.2 Scrolling and Centering the Ladder

There are several ways of navigating up and down the ladder:

1. Use the Mouse Scroll Wheel to scroll quickly up and down the ladder.
   
2. Use the Scroll Bar on the right hand side of the ladder.
   
3. Right-click (or Ctrl-click) anywhere on the ladder to center the ladder around the half-way point between the best available buy and sell orders.
   
4. Left-click on a value in the Price column of the ladder to center the ladder around that binary price.

4.2.3 Volume Bars

To the right of every binary price there is a volume chart which shows the amount traded per point together with a green bar as an indication of the amount. This provides an easy way to find out where large amounts of money have been traded. In the example above, the most money has been traded at a binary price of 77.0, in total 80.99/point at that price.

Additionally, the advantage of showing the amount staked in binary terms (instead of in decimal traded amounts like on the Betfair website) is that it gives a much more accurate indication of the amount of money being risked.

4.2.4 Last Traded Price

Each time BDI detects that money has been traded, the corresponding value in the Price column of the ladder will flash a certain colour:

	Green if the new trade was at a higher binary price than the previous traded price;
	Red if the new trade was a lower binary price than the previous trade;
	Yellow if the new traded price is the same as before.

4.3 Placing Orders

4.3.1 Amount / Point Mode

The first step in placing an order is to choose the amount you wish to stake per point.

If you are not fully familiar with binary prices and stakes expressed "per point" then please see Section 2. Binary Prices

If you click the "Cm" (Custom) button then you can enter an amount of your choice as the binary stake.

Once you have decided on your stake, then to place an order simply click any blue cell in the ladder to place a buy order at that binary price; click any pink cell to place a sell order at that price. A red "glowing" effect will appear around the cell to confirm that the request was processed successfully.

If this is the first time you are using BDI to place orders then we recommend that you try and place some orders well outside the current buy/sell "spread" - perhaps try doing a sell at binary price of 99.0 or a buy at a price of 1.0.

If the order went through successfully, then this will be confirmed in the Our Buy or Our Sell columns of the binary ladder.

In this example, we have placed a buy order of 0.10/point at a price of 72.5 and a sell order of 0.10/point at 82.0. New entries are added in the "Unfilled Orders" panel to reflect this:

4.3.2 Liability Mode

BDI features a "Liability" mode where you can choose your stake in terms of maximum liability. For example, if you are placing your first order on a market and you have set the liability to 50, then BDI will calculate the stake required in order to have a maximum loss ("exposure") of 50. If your order was matched at a better price, then the resulting liability may be less. Press Ctrl + S to switch between Amount/Point and Liability Mode, or go to the View menu.

The stake section has a light-red background when in Liability mode. If you click the "Cm" (Custom) button then you can enter an amount of your choice as the maximum liability.

4.3.3 Order Entry Window

If you tick the Order Entry checkbox, then each time you try to place an order, BDI will pop up a confirmation window.

Please note that the If-Filled, TIF and Advanced Options parts of this window are explained in a later section of this guide.

4.4 Cancelling Orders

There are several ways of cancelling orders on the currently selected market:

1. Left-click orange highlighted values in the Our Buy or Our Sell columns of the ladder.
   This will cancel all of buy or sell orders at that particular binary price. Also note that if you have multiple orders at a particular binary price, then the orange highlighted values will be a sum total of all of the stakes - clicking the orange cell in this case would cancel all of that orders at that price. A red "glowing" effect will appear around the cell to confirm that the request was processed successfully.
   
2. Left-click any white (i.e. empty) cell in the Our Buy or Our Sell columns of the ladder.
   This will cancel all of the orders of that type - i.e. if you click an empty white cell in the Our Buy column, all buy orders will be cancelled. A red "glowing" effect will appear around the column to confirm that the request was processed successfully.
   
3. Double-click any white cell in the Our Buy or Our Sell columns of the ladder.
   This will cancel all of the current "unfilled" (unmatched) orders on the market, regardless if the orders are buys or sells. A red "glowing" effect will appear around both Our Buy and Our Sell columns to confirm that the request was processed successfully.
   
4. Click any entry in the Unfilled Orders panel.
   
   
   
   This will cancel that particular order - useful if you have multiple orders at a particular binary price and you do not want to cancel all of them at once.
5. When viewing Betfair binary markets or Tradefair markets, click the "Cancel All" button on the left hand side of the interface.
   
   
   
6. When viewing Betfair multi-selection markets, click the "Cancel All (Market)" button to cancel all orders for the entire market; click the "Cancel All (Selection)" button in the "Cancel Orders" section to cancel all orders for the currently viewed selection.
   
   
   
   
   

We recommend that you try placing some buy or sell orders comfortably outside the "Live" price range for a market and then try using each of the methods above in turn, in order to fully familiarise yourself with how to cancel orders.

4.5 Net Position

If you are not fully familiar with the concept of "net position" then please see Section 2.2 Net Position.

BDI calculates your net position from all the "filled" (matched) orders you have on the currently selected market.

In this example we have had two filled orders: one buy of 3/point at a price of 50 and one sell of 1/point at 80. You can click each column header of the Filled Orders panel to sort the table by that column. In the above example, the "Filled" column is sorted in descending order from most recent at the top to oldest at the bottom. Also note that time values in the Filled column represent the time the most recent portion of the order was filled.

Net:
This is the current net position on the market. In this example, we have one filled buy order of 3/point and one filled sell order of 1/point, so the net position is:
+3.00/point - 1.00/point = +2.00/point.

Avg:
This is the average price of the current net position. In this example, the sell order of 1/point at 80> has "partially closed" the buy order of 3/point at 50.0, so the remaining "open order" on the market is effectively a buy order of 2.00/point at 50.0.
If a new buy order of 2.00/point was filled at a price of 70.0, the net position would then be +4.00/point at an average price of 60.0.

When the net position is non-zero, the average price of the net position is highlighted in the Price column of the ladder with a blue or pink background, depending on whether the net position is positive or negative respectively.

4.6 Profit/Loss

Realised P/L:
This is the "realised" profit/loss from any orders which have been closed or partially closed so far. Continuing with our example, the sell order of 1.00/point at 80.0 has partially closed 1.00/point of the buy order of 3.00/point at 50.0. The realised profit/loss is therefore 1.00/point * (80 - 50) = +30.00.

Current P/L:
This is the projected P/L (approximate) if you closed out your net position at the last traded price, including the realised profit/loss so far. In our example, the last traded price is 77.5 and our net position is +2.00/point at an average price of 50.0, so the current P/L is +30.00 + (77.5 - 50.0) * 2.00/point = +85.00. When your net position is zero, then the realised P/L is the same as the current P/L.

P/L if 100:
This is the profit/loss if the market settles at a level of 100. In our example, we have a realised profit/loss of +30.00, and if the market settles at 100, the current net position of +2.00/point at an average price of 50.0 would mean an extra profit of 2.00/point * (100 - 50.0) = +100. Combining these two values, we have 30 + 100 = +130.00.

P/L if 0:
This is the profit/loss if the market settles at a level of 0. Continuing the example, the current net position of +2.00/point at an average price of 50.0 would mean a loss of 2.00/point * (0 - 50.0) = -100. Combining this with the realised profit/loss, we have 30 - 100 = -70.00.

The Net Position button in the Amount/Point panel can be used to set the stake to the current net position. For example, if your current net position is +2.00/point on the market, then selecting the Net Position button will set the stake to 2, and BDI will allow you to only place a sell order (as a precaution, only whilst the Net Position button is selected); if your net position is -4.00/point then choosing the Net Position button will set the stake to 4, and BDI will allow you to only place a buy order.

4.7 Close Out Buttons

When your net position on the current market is non-zero, the two buttons in the "Close Out" section become enabled. You can use the "Best Prc" button to submit an order at the best available buy or sell price (whichever is appropriate, depending if your net position is positive or negative), with a stake equal to the current net position. Alternatively, you can use the "Join Q" button to submit an order at a price so that you join the queue for the best available price. Each button has in brackets the relevant binary price.

4.8 Betfair Multi-Selection Markets

When viewing Betfair "multi-selection" markets (ones with more than two selections), the selections panel appears above the market navigation tree.

The selection currently being viewed in the ladder is highlighted with a blue box around it - "Man Utd" in the example above. To choose a new selection, simply click anywhere in the row of data for that selection. There are several columns in the table providing information about each selection:

• Selection Name
• Net - this shows your net position on the selection, as a result of orders placed on that particular selection only. Achieving an equal profit across all outcomes is simple - all you need to do is to get the net position on every selection to zero. This can be done by viewing each selection that has a non-zero net position and closing out the position accordingly.
• P/L 100 - for normal one-winner markets, this is the profit/loss if the particular selection settles at 100 (i.e. it wins) and all of the other selections settle at 0.
• LTP - the last traded binary price (Last Traded Price). This will flash green, red or yellow when new trades have taken place for the selection, in a similar fashion to the ladder.
• VC - this shows the size of the last order (the Volume Change since the last update), along with an estimate of whether the last order was a buy (blue background), sell (pink background) or unknown (white background).
• # U - the number of unfilled orders on the selection.

4.9 Connection Indicators

In the top-right corner of the interface, BDI displays two indicators: a connection status indicator and a "data request" counter.

4.9.1 Connection Status Indicator

BDI continually monitors and optimises your connection to the Betfair API servers. On the left of the two connection indicators, BDI displays an estimate of the one-way time in milliseconds between the Betfair API servers and your computer. In the example above the value of 22 ms means that, it is currently taking 22 milliseconds (on average) for data from the Betfair API servers to reach your computer.

The status indicator will change colour from green to yellow if there are network problems. If it changes to a red colour, then it means that you are disconnected from the Betfair API. In this situation, you should check your internet connection to see if other programs can access the internet without problems. If your connection appears to be working fine then the Betfair API servers may be temporarily down - BDI will try to reconnect automatically.

4.9.2 Data Request Counter

The connection indicator on the right is the Data Request Counter, which indicates the number of chargeable requests made in the last 1 second. In general BDI should use around 6-7 requests/second, although this will rise as more markets are added to the Monitored List. If this indicator goes above 20 then you may be charged on a per-request basis, according to the rules of the Betfair Data Request Charging Scheme. Please email us if you have any further queries about this scheme.

4.10 Account Info

The "Wallet : Currency" section shows which wallet you are using (UK or Australian), along with the currency of your account - a UK wallet with the GBP currency in this example. For full information regarding wallets, please see the "Help" section of the Betfair website.

"Balance" is the "Available to Bet Balance", which is your account balance minus the total current exposure across all of your wallets.

"Current Exposure" represents the losses that could be incurred if all of your bets on unsettled markets lose - i.e. the worst-case scenario. Each time you place an order with BDI or via the Betfair website, your exposure is adjusted accordingly. Please note that a separate current exposure is maintained across each of your wallets.

Betfair Points are points that you earn every time you place an order which has been settled. The number of points that you receive is calculated based upon your net profit or loss on each market. These are used to determine your Discount Rate, which reduces the amount of Commission you pay on winning markets. For full information regarding Betfair Points and the Discount rate, please see the "Help" section of the Betfair website.

All of these sections can be individually shown or hidden from the View->Account Details menu. Note that it is also possible to prevent the Betfair username from being shown in the window title bar when you are logged in. The shortcut Ctrl + 1 can be used to show or hide all of the enabled sections at once.

4.11 In-Play Markets

In-play betting involves placing orders while an event is in progress. At the start of selected events, unfilled orders are cancelled and an in-play market is opened.

Specific rules apply to in-play markets, depending on the sport. These relate to certain circumstances in which markets are suspended, where unfilled orders are cancelled and the market restarted, and to delays applied to orders in order to protect against minor delays in broadcasts.

If a market is in-play, then the indicator in the bottom-left of the main BDI interface will turn green, and the time-delay which applies to placing bets will be displayed.

4.12 Countdown Timer / In-Play Stopwatch

When viewing a market which has not yet turned in-play, then a countdown timer is displayed in the top-right of the interface. This timer is synchronised to Betfair server time and is independent of the local clock on your computer. The background colour gradually changes from a bright blue (when the event starts in more than 24 hours), through to black (when the event starts in 1 hour), then through to bright red (when the event is about to start). Also note that for markets which are not scheduled to turn in-play (such as the Financial markets), then the text of the countdown timer is modified to read "Market closes in:" instead of "Event starts in:".

For markets which have turned in-play, then a stopwatch is displayed showing the duration for which the market has been in-play.

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