If you’re a trader, or you’ve ever considered becoming one, then it’s likely you know how much work is involved. You need an incredibly strong head for mathematics and numbers; markets fluctuate so regularly that you need to understand the readouts and charts you’re faced with, as well as being able to calculate odds on the fly as they change. You also need to be committed, dedicated, and – perhaps most importantly – you need to be able to take losses on the chin even as you enjoy your winnings.
If only, say you, there was software which could help me in my trading endeavours. If you’re a newcomer, you might be feeling very daunted by the sheer amount of information being thrown at you on an hourly basis as a trader. If you’re an expert, you might be getting tired of constantly keeping track of your trades and rates using Excel or other spreadsheet software. Well, the folks at Bet Angel have heard your cries, and they’ve created a piece of software that’s designed to help both novice and expert traders become better at their craft.
Origin
Bet Angel is the brainchild of Peter Webb, supposedly one of the earliest Betfair users (having started back in 2000, along with the service) and betting aficionado. Bet Angel was started back in 2004 after Webb realised his tactics could be generalised and packaged for a wider audience; he apparently initially designed the Bet Angel software for his own personal use, but swiftly realised its potential commercial applications and developed a form of the software for consumer use.
The first thing you’re likely to notice about Bet Angel is simultaneously its most difficult feature and a complete inevitability, given the status of the industry. Bet Angel is undeniably an incredibly complex piece of software to look at. Charts, graphs, numbers and options pile on top of one another in a rather visually unappealing way; Apple aficionados will find themselves screaming for their favourite company’s clean, efficient visual design when they look at the average Bet Angel session.
Stat-based Predictions
That’s unavoidable, though, and it’s not a point against the software. What Bet Angel essentially does is to collate data from thousands of previous sporting events and offer stats-based predictions based on these. Football and tennis trading are both covered thanks to the Soccer Mystic and Tennis Trader plugins, while Multi Market Trading presents a solid option for those who like to dabble in various different sporting disciplines.
With that in mind, the sheer amount of numbers and graphs needed to represent statistical trends and betting averages over a period of many years is impossible to present in a completely clean manner. Bet Angel looks great; those who are familiar with Microsoft’s Office suite will find themselves right at home here, and indeed the software has full Microsoft Excel integration for those who already have their spreadsheets set up and don’t want to rock the boat too much (no word on LibreOffice or its equivalents, though).
Advanced Features
There are a number of advanced features available to users who want to take things a little further thanks to Bet Angel’s tiered payment plans. With Basic, which is absolutely free, offers one-click betting, auto-refreshing charts, momentum indicators and other essential tools for bettors. It’s probably only really an option for those who are just starting out; advanced or experienced betting aficionados won’t find this version of the software anywhere near fully-featured enough, but it’s excellent for testing the waters if you’re not sure yet.
Bet Angel Trader
The next tier is Bet Angel Trader, which offers a few more features and costs around £6 a year, with a £60 12-month payment also available. This version is, as one might expect, the mid-tier edition, and offers additional features like dutching tools for multiple runners, a vertical ladder interface and other ways to make your Betfair experience more satisfying. Finally, there’s the Professional tier, which is the only real option for those who are serious about Betfair trading.
Professional offers one of the most advanced and fully-featured automation tools we’ve ever seen in a piece of betting software. Effectively, you can set a number of different parameters based on the event you’re betting on and the odds you want to bet on, and then set up the software to complete these bets for you. It won’t ever do anything you don’t tell it to do, and if you find a particular strategy isn’t working then changing your automation process is simple and intuitive.
Conclusion
This is an excellent time-saving tool for those looking to minimise their effort while also maximising their returns. It’s absolutely not for beginners; like much of Bet Angel, the automation aspect of the software isn’t really set up for people who aren’t already at least a little au fait with the world of sports betting. That said, Professional does also include Soccer Mystic, Tennis Trader and an In-Play Trader feature that dynamically tracks the market leader and recommends bets based on that, so even if you’re not overly familiar with Betfair it’s still a great option.
Put simply, Bet Angel is a blessing for traders. We’d strongly recommend you plump for its Professional tier, as the other two are simply not fully-featured enough for serious traders. With a free tier for beginners and a free trial for the other two tiers, though, it’s extremely difficult not to recommend Bet Angel to serious bettors and betting beginners alike.