A price floor is the lowest price at which an automated or API bet is allowed to go on. When the bet reaches the bookmaker, the software compares the current price with the floor: below it, the bet is skipped; at or above it, the bet goes on at the current price. Any of the betting tools in Australia that places bets should let you set one.
How a price floor works: a $2.40 floor at $2.30
With illustrative figures: your method rates a runner's fair price at $2.30, wants at least a 4% edge, and fires when the price is $2.45. So the floor is:
floor = fair price x (1 + minimum edge) = 2.30 x 1.04 = 2.392, rounded up to $2.40
By the time a $50 bet arrives, latency may have let the price move:
| Price when the bet arrives | With the $2.40 floor | Return if it wins | Edge = price / 2.30 - 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2.45 | Placed at $2.45 | $122.50 | 6.5% |
| $2.40 | Placed at $2.40 | $120.00 | 4.3% |
| $2.35 | Skipped | No bet | 2.2%, under the 4% wanted |
| $2.30 | Skipped | No bet | 0% |
Without the floor, the $2.30 bet goes on at an expected value of (1 / 2.30) x 2.30 - 1 = 0. At $2.40 the expected value is (1 / 2.30) x 2.40 - 1 = 0.04348 per dollar, or 50 x 0.04348 = about $2.17 on $50, if the $2.30 fair price is right.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A bet placed at or above the floor can still lose its whole $50 stake. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Floors vs ceilings
| Price floor | Price ceiling (maximum odds) | |
|---|---|---|
| Stops bets | Below a set price | Above a set price |
| Guards against | A price that has shortened since the signal | Prices outside the method's tested range, or that look like an error |
| Usual setting | Fair price x (1 + minimum edge) | The top of the tested range |
Together they make a band, and a bet goes on only inside it. A price far above every other bookmaker's can be a pricing error a bookmaker may void under its terms, as palpable error explains.
Price floor, minimum odds and target odds
- A minimum odds setting puts one fixed price on every bet in a strategy, such as nothing under $1.50; a floor is worked out per bet from its own fair price.
- Target odds is the name a bet placement API can give the floor sent with each bet, as B337's does (below).
- A minimum odds requirement is a promotion term: the lowest price a bet must be at to qualify for an offer.
Mistakes when setting a floor
| Mistake | What it costs in the example |
|---|---|
| Setting the floor at the $2.45 signal price | The $2.40 bet is skipped, giving up a 4.3% edge |
| Setting it below the fair price, at $2.25 | The zero-edge $2.30 bet goes on |
| Retrying a refused bet with a lower floor | The floor stops meaning anything |
A floor stops one bet at a time. To stop everything at once you need a kill switch.
Where B337 fits
B337's Execution API sends each bet to a session running on your own computer, which has to be on, awake and online. The target odds sent with it is a floor, not a fixed price, and an optional maximum odds adds a ceiling.
Automated sessions apply your floor too, and a refused attempt is listed in the dashboard. The API is set up with the team, needs coding, and bets use credits.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A floor set too low lets poor prices through. Many bookmakers restrict or prohibit automated betting and third-party access in their terms; a bookmaker can also limit stakes, void bets or close an account. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.