Read the Betfair price graph for trend and key levels (steams, drifts, support and resistance), the traded volume for conviction (heavy volume means a real move, light volume means noise), and software candlesticks plus weighted average price for precise timing. The graph is history; combine it with the live ladder for the present.
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This is a cluster sub of our pillar Betfair platform features explained. The pillar tours every tool on the platform; this page focuses on one feature traders underuse badly — the price graphs and charts. Most people glance at the little graph on the market page and move on. Read it properly and it tells you the story of where the money has been and hints at where it is going.
What Charts Does Betfair Give You?
Betfair shows two main visual tools on the standard market page, plus far richer charting inside trading software. On the site itself you get the price graph — a line of a selection's odds over time — and the matched/traded volume figures showing how much money has gone through. In dedicated software like Bet Angel or Geeks Toy you also get proper trading charts: candlesticks, weighted-average-price lines, volume histograms and the live weight of money. Each answers a different question, and reading them together is the skill.
The single most important mental model is this: the price graph tells you what the crowd has decided, the traded volume tells you how seriously they mean it, and the live ladder tells you what they are doing right now. A price move on heavy volume is a conviction move; the same move on thin volume is noise that can reverse. Beginners read the line and ignore the volume, which is like reading a headline without checking the source.
One practical note before we dig in: the graph on the Betfair site and the charts in trading software are drawn from the same underlying data, but they are not equally useful. The site graph is fine for a quick read of the broad story — is this selection steaming or drifting, roughly where are the levels — but it lags, it is low-resolution, and it gives you no control over the timeframe. If you intend to trade off charts in any serious way, you will quickly outgrow the site graph and want the candlesticks, volume bars and weight-of-money display that software provides. Think of the site graph as the headline and the software chart as the full article; both are worth reading, but you make trading decisions off the detailed one.
Reading the Price Graph
The price graph is a time series of odds, and you read it the way you would read any chart: trend, levels, and turning points. A steadily shortening price (drifting down the odds) shows money piling in behind a selection — a market mover. A steadily lengthening price shows confidence draining away. A flat line means the crowd has settled on a value and is not changing its mind. The slope tells you the strength and direction of opinion over the window you are viewing.
Two patterns are worth training your eye for. Support and resistance: prices often stall and bounce at levels where a lot of money sits — a horse that keeps failing to trade below 3.0 is meeting resistance there, and that level becomes a reference for your entries and exits. Steaming and drifting: a sharp, sustained move in one direction, especially close to the off or kick-off, often reflects informed money and tends to continue short-term before settling. Recognising whether you are looking at a trend, a range, or a turning point is the foundation of any chart-based technical analysis.
Volume: The Detail Everyone Ignores
Traded volume is the most underused number on the page. It tells you how much money has actually changed hands on a selection, and it is the truth-check on every price move. A favourite that has shortened from 3.0 to 2.6 on heavy matched volume has been genuinely backed; the move has conviction and is less likely to snap back. The same shortening on light volume might be one or two traders nudging a thin market, and it can reverse the moment they stop. Always ask not just “which way did it move?” but “on how much money?”
Volume also tells you whether a market is worth trading at all. High traded volume means liquidity, which means you can enter and exit without slippage; low volume means the soft-looking price is a trap you may not be able to get out of cleanly. Before committing to a market, glance at the traded total — it is the difference between a tradeable market and a museum piece.
| What you see | What it suggests | Trading implication |
|---|---|---|
| Price shortening on heavy volume | Conviction money backing the selection | Trend likely to continue short-term; follow or stand aside |
| Price shortening on light volume | A few traders nudging a thin market | Treat with suspicion; can reverse fast |
| Flat price, rising volume | Two-sided battle at a fair value | Range-trade between the levels |
| Repeated failure to break a level | Support or resistance | Use the level for entries, exits and stops |
| Sharp steam near the off | Possible informed money | Short-term continuation; do not fade blindly |
Software Charts: Candlesticks and WAP
Once you trade seriously you will want the charts inside trading software, which turn the basic line into a proper analytical tool. Candlestick charts compress each time interval into a body and wicks showing the open, high, low and close of the odds — far more information per glance than a line, and they make ranges, breakouts and reversals jump out. The weighted average price (WAP) line shows the average odds at which money has actually been matched, which is a cleaner signal of true value than the flickering best back/lay. Overlay WAP on the price and you can see when the last-traded price has run ahead of where the real money sits — often a sign of an overshoot ready to correct.
These tools are why traders pay for software. The free site graph is enough to read the broad story; the software charts let you time entries and exits to the tick. If you are weighing up tools, our best software roundup and the Bet Angel and Geeks Toy reviews cover their charting in detail.
Timeframes: Which Window to Look At
The same chart tells different stories depending on the window you view, and matching the timeframe to your trade is half the skill. A scalper working in ticks cares about the last few minutes — the micro-structure of the most recent moves and the immediate levels. A swing trader holding for a larger move wants the longer view: the whole pre-race or pre-match drift, the session-long trend, the levels that have held all day. Zooming the chart to a window that does not match your holding time is a classic beginner error that produces signals you cannot actually trade.
In software you can set the candlestick interval — a few seconds per candle for scalping, a minute or more for swing work. The principle mirrors financial charting: shorter intervals show noise and opportunity in equal measure, longer intervals filter the noise but lag the turns. I keep two views open when I can — a fast one for timing the entry and a slower one for the overall direction — so that I am never trading a short-term wiggle against the longer trend without knowing it. When the two timeframes agree, the trade is stronger; when they conflict, the longer one usually wins and I wait.
How Charts Differ by Sport
Chart behaviour is not the same across markets, and reading them well means knowing the rhythm of the sport. In pre-race horse racing, the graph tells a tightening story over the final fifteen minutes as the market converges on the off — drifts and steams accelerate, volume builds, and the most readable patterns appear late. In football, the pre-match graph is usually calmer, but the in-play chart is punctuated by step-changes: a goal sends the price gapping, and the chart between goals shows the slow grind of time decay on the favoured outcome.
In tennis, the in-play chart swings with every break of serve, producing a saw-tooth pattern that experienced traders learn to read point by point — the price overshoots on a break and often retraces if the break is immediately threatened. The lesson is that a chart pattern means different things in different sports, because the underlying event generates price moves in a different rhythm. Learn the rhythm of your sport first, and the chart becomes a map rather than a puzzle. Our sport guides — from in-play tennis to in-play football — cover those rhythms in depth.
From the Desk: Reading a Chart Before a Trade
The market: a UK handicap, roughly fifteen minutes before the off, a second-favourite trading around 5.4. I was deciding whether to back it for a short scalp.
What the price graph showed: over the previous ten minutes the price had drifted from 5.0 out to 5.4, then stalled — it had tried and failed to trade beyond 5.5 twice. That repeated failure marked resistance at 5.5 and suggested the drift was running out of steam.
What the volume confirmed: the drift had come on modest volume, while the last few minutes showed traded volume picking up around 5.3–5.4 with the price holding. Money was starting to come back in — the makings of a reversal, not a continued drift.
The trade: I backed £60 at 5.4, expecting a bounce back toward 5.1–5.2 as the late money arrived. The price firmed to 5.2 over the next four minutes and I layed £62 back to green roughly +£2.30 across the field before commission.
The honest caveat: the chart did not predict the future — it stacked the odds. On another similar read the same week the drift simply continued past my entry and I cut for −£3 at 5.6. Reading the graph turns a coin-flip into a slightly favourable bet; it does not turn it into a certainty, and the trades that go wrong are the price of the ones that go right.
Combining the Chart With the Ladder
The chart is history; the ladder is the present. The best reads come from using them together. The graph tells you the trend and the key levels; the ladder tells you what is queued right now — where the big money is waiting, which side is stacking, whether the weight of money agrees with the recent price direction. When the chart says “resistance at 5.5” and the ladder shows a wall of money stacking on the lay side at 5.4, those two signals reinforce each other and the trade is higher-confidence. When they disagree — the chart says one thing and the live money says another — stand aside, because a conflict between history and the present is the market telling you it has not made up its mind yet.
A graph is a record of what already happened, not a guarantee of what comes next. Patterns improve your odds; they do not remove risk. Most traders lose money, prices can move sharply against a textbook read, and past results do not guarantee future returns. Use charts to tilt the odds, always with a stop in place.
Chart-Reading Mistakes to Avoid
- Reading the line, ignoring the volume. A move means little until you know how much money is behind it.
- Over-fitting patterns. Not every wiggle is a signal; most short-term noise is just noise.
- Trading illiquid markets because the chart looks clean. Low volume makes any pattern unreliable and the exit hard.
- Fading a strong steam near the off. Sharp late moves often reflect informed money and continue.
- Using the chart without the ladder. The graph is history; the live queue is the present.
Read the price for the story, the volume for the conviction, and the ladder for the present. Together they turn a guess into a calculated trade.
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FAQ
What do the graphs on Betfair show?
The standard market page shows a price graph (a selection's odds over time) and matched/traded volume figures. Trading software adds candlestick charts, a weighted-average-price line and volume histograms. The price shows what the crowd has decided, the volume shows how seriously they mean it.
How do I read a Betfair price graph?
Read it for trend, levels and turning points: a shortening price means money is backing the selection, a lengthening price means confidence is draining, and repeated failures to break a price mark support or resistance. Always check the traded volume to judge whether a move has conviction or is just thin-market noise.
What is weighted average price (WAP) on Betfair?
WAP is the average odds at which money has actually been matched, shown as a line in trading software. It is a cleaner signal of true value than the flickering best back or lay price. When the last-traded price runs well ahead of WAP, it often signals an overshoot that may correct.
Why does traded volume matter when reading charts?
Volume is the truth-check on every price move. A price change on heavy matched volume has conviction and is less likely to reverse; the same change on light volume can be one or two traders nudging a thin market. Volume also tells you whether a market is liquid enough to enter and exit without slippage.
Can chart reading make me profitable on Betfair?
Chart reading tilts the odds in your favour by stacking trend, level and volume signals, but it does not remove risk or predict the future. Patterns improve your hit rate; they do not guarantee it. Most traders lose money, so always trade with a stop and combine the chart with the live ladder.