The spread firms tend to have two policies for trading ‘fringe’ sports. The first is that a senior market-maker will trade the event as a secondary responsibility to a more mainstream sport. So maybe a football trader will also take care of one of the minor sports in the summer. The second possibility is that the firm will encourage one of its more junior members of staff to research a sport and start trading it before becoming more involved in major sports.

 

IG, for instance, has a policy of encouraging its trading room staff to be involved in setting prices for at least one sport. Either way, it opens up options. The sport is very likely to be traded by someone who has not had the chance to put in as much research as they would perhaps like or someone relatively inexperienced in forming markets and trading in running. Certainly, the firms are much less likely to want to take a big position on a sport where there is less information to go on and which is particularly vulnerable to clients with a good knowledge.

 

The aim more than ever is to set prices which attract good each-way trade and take a profit from the spread. As with many sports, the level of play is rising year after year. The number of 180s in a match or tournament, highest checkout and ton-up check-outs (a player’s collected check-out scores over 100, so a maximum three-dart finish 170 check-out scores 70) all look potentially good buys, particularly in the WDC- controlled game which has most of the world’s strongest players.