Sports Betting in Your Sleep: Why Limit Orders are a Game Changer

By Greg Rappaport

I don’t get much sleep these days, but such is the life of a new parent. 

When sleep does come with a baby in the house, staying up until 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time to watch a Padres vs. Dodgers game makes even less sense than it did before we had a kid. 

But with baseball being one of the few sports to wager on during the lean summer sports calendar, I’ve had to accept that sometimes when I place a bet on a West Coast game, I just have to see how it turns out when I wake up in the morning. It’s a frustrating concession to make, since I’m typically an active in-game bettor: moving in and out of wagers, hedging, or waiting until odds swing to my favor. 

Unfortunately—despite my best efforts—I’ve been unable to accomplish these in-play betting maneuvers in my sleep. But now I’ve got a solution to my West Coast woes: Sporttrade!

Just like when you buy and sell stocks, Sporttrade allows users to engage in price discovery by placing limit orders that execute only when your sports “trade” reaches your desired price. With the ability to set limit buy and limit sell orders—something not currently available on any existing American sportsbook—a whole new world of possibilities becomes open to sports bettors, including but not limited to: betting in your sleep. 

Here’s three ways you can use limit orders to reshape your approach to sports betting:

1. Set it and snooze

The Rockies bullpen has been burning up your bankroll all season. No National League team has a worse bullpen ERA than the Rockies, meaning no lead is safe in Denver. 

On Sporttrade, where price=probability, odds are displayed as a contract price from $0-$100. So if the Rockies have a 50% chance of winning, they would be trading at around $50 on Sporttrade. If they were to win, the contract would settle at $100, giving you a $50 gain. And if they were to lose, it would settle at $0, incurring you a $50 loss. 

But we’re not just talking about buying and holding here. 

Here’s a perfect  scenario to use a limit order: The Rockies are playing the Dodgers in a game that starts at 10 p.m. ET. As underdogs, the Rockies are trading at just $39 per contract, so you buy 1 contract. 

11 p.m. rolls around and the Rockies are up 2-0 in the 4th inning, but you are already falling asleep on the couch. Up until now, bettors typically had just two options in this scenario: take whatever meager cashout option was being offered to them by the sportsbooks (if one was even offered at all) or just go to bed and hope the Rockies bullpen can hold it together for one night. 

But on Sporttrade, limit sell orders open a third door of possibility. You decide to set a limit sell order for $82, meaning if the price of your Rockies Moneyline contract, which was originally purchased for $39, reaches $82, the sale will execute. This would occur if the Rockies had that 3-0 lead into the 8th inning or so…

So even if the Rockies are leading 3-0 in the 8th inning and end up blowing the lead, as they’ve been known to do, your baseball bet has already cashed $43 ($82-$39) regardless of the outcome of the game. All while you were sleeping in bed. 

2. Quit your second screen

This may sound strange coming from a company who’s entire product is an app on your phone, but put the phone down and enjoy the game! 

I’m a huge fan of betting on golf, but do I really have the time to live bet the entirety of a four-day tournament? Chances are I’ll probably be on the golf course myself on Saturday or Sunday, and I don’t want to spend that time checking to see how my golf bets are doing. 

Let’s say you liked Matthew Fitzpatrick going into the U.S. Open at $3 per contract and bought 3 contracts. He’s tied for first going into the final round on Sunday and trading at $21 per contract. You aren’t quite ready to sell but want to make sure you’re able to secure some gains for his performance if he stays near the top of the leaderboard, so you set a limit order to sell two contracts at $40 per contract and decide to let your third contract ride until the conclusion of the tournament.

Then you hit the golf course yourself, put your phone in your bag, and get back to wondering why you spend so much time and money doing something you never seem to improve at! Wonderful game, golf. 

Once you’re safely off the course and back to the comfort of your own home you check your phone and see that the $40 limit sell order executed after Fitzpatrick regained a share of first place with an impressive birdie on the fifth hole, sending his contract price up to $41.50. You cashed 2 contracts at $40 for a profit of $37 per contract, a total gain of $74 regardless of how he performed from there!

His value would end up dipping back down to as low as $21.50 when he bogeyed the first two holes of the back nine, but his near flawless performance from there would end up being enough to capture his first major and having your third contract that you let ride settle at $100. 

3. Skip town entirely

Vacations are good for the soul, but do present the danger of accidentally visiting a state where mobile sports wagering is still prohibited. But like magic, using limit orders on Sporttrade, you can still partake even when on the road—albeit in a limited capacity. 

Let’s imagine it’s Week 1 of the NFL season and you’re looking to place a bet on a football game. You like the Ravens Moneyline with Lamar and Co. visiting the New York Jets. Pretty obvious pick here. 

But because the Ravens are heavy favorites (trading at $68 per contract), their odds just aren’t attractive enough for you to bet it. So you speculate that backed by a raucous Jets crowd in their home opener, that NY might get out to an early lead. So on Thursday, you place a limit buy order to purchase a contract if the Ravens’ price dips down to $49 per contract, then drive out of state to start your vacation.

Lo and behold, the Jets come out like a house on fire and go up 10-0 on the visiting Ravens. Your contract fills, as the Ravens price drops down to $48 - triggering the buy order at $49.   The Ravens come back and trounce the Jets winning 43-17, and you enjoy your winnings while sitting on the beach in a state that doesn’t allow sports betting. You cashed for a $51 profit vs. a $32 profit had you just bought a market order contract at $68. 

How many other sports betting apps can do that?