There’s no doubt that if you’re serious about live sporting events and making money trading pre-match, you need a computer setup that’s tailor-made for the job. When there’s money involved, and it becomes your second (or even primary) income, it’s important to invest some money into a trading setup that allows you to research, keep abreast of news and execute trades with razor-sharp efficiency.
Today’s online betting exchanges allow you to trade the prices of all the major sporting events, whether it’s predicting winners of English Premier League soccer, the Open Championship in golf, or the prestigious Melbourne Cup in Australian horse racing. To gain an edge in the sports markets, consider the following options to enhance your home-based sports trading setup.
A dedicated trading computer with at least 8GB RAM
Given the various programs you’ll have open, such as web browsers and trading software, you’ll want a computer that’s as clean as possible. Keep your trading desktop computer exclusively for trading purposes, free from clutter. Don’t worry too much about hard disk size; just focus firmly on memory.
If you want to futureproof your trading computer, 8GB of RAM should be an absolute minimum. You’ll be absolutely flying if you can stretch to 16GB RAM, ensuring that your computer doesn’t appear sluggish at crucial times.
Fibre optic internet connection
It’s important to have a super-reliable internet connection. Fibre optic broadband is an absolute must, if you want to be able to stream live sporting events and still have enough bandwidth to operate trading software simultaneously. Of course, it’s also important to have a backup plan if your broadband connection does give up the ghost. A smartphone with 4G connectivity should be close by to allow you to log in to your betting exchange and manage trades.
Dual-monitor setup as a minimum
There is definitely a need for multiple monitors, too. Two monitors should be an absolute minimum. This gives you one monitor to use your trading software and another to use to watch live sports and research upcoming games.
Some of the world’s best sports traders, such as Peter Webb, will tell you that a quad-monitor setup, just like financial traders use, would be even more beneficial—a setup Webb’s used for more than a decade.
Sports trading software
We’ve mentioned sports trading software a few times, so it’s important to talk about the importance of industry-leading trading software. Bet Angel is the market leader when it comes to software, offering trading ladders, automation and pre-match research tools for soccer and tennis games. Most betting exchange user interfaces are very rudimentary and clunky, so trading software like Bet Angel is the sensible option.
