Financial odds betting

The financial markets can be a murky proposition for those not working within the square mile of the City of London, but with the rise of day trading, and the sheer numbers of betting products out there, it’s worth a look for even the most unadventurous of punters.

A new site, ChoiceOdds.com, offers financial betting in a clear and concise format for small stakes and timeframes, and avoids the high-risk spread bettings markets.

As the site itself tells customers, ChoiceOdds allows you to play the markets with limited risk and with tax-free gains.

The site offers a large selection of fixed odds, floating odds and binary betting, as well as a choice of up/down, range, one touch, and tunnel bets.

These wagers can be placed within varied timesframes, with 5 minute, hourly, midday and daily bets, and the site offfers a choice of views, either the traditional matrix view or their new interactive arrows view.

Opening an account was easy enough and the £10 bonus to new clients got the ball rolling nicely.

First up was a bet on the Floating FTSE Five Minute Up or Down market, via the interactive arrows view. Minimum bet is £1 so that’s where we started.

This reviewer is by no means an expert on financial betting, but it all seemed to make sense and it was quick and easy to get some bets on.

The arrows view is a superb way of both following movements in the market and placing bets. You’ll soon be urging the ‘Live Level’ marker line up and down the screen, while a quick click of the ‘My Positions’ button allows to to check your bets.

An improvement could be to have your bets displayed on the arrows view page, but toggling between the two is quick and not too much of a problem.

After the FTSE we had a dabble on the Dow Jones and then some money markets, where you can bet on seven different markets, pitting currency against currency.

We managed to finish about £5 up (thanks to a run on the FTSE), after a 30 minute small stakes session punting on the five minute markets.

The short term bets are great fun and offer (pretty much) instant graftication.

There is also an excellent tour feature which walks you through all of the available bets and markets.

The site is very clear and smoothly designed, and the understated feel conveys a sense of authority and integrity. Outside of the gambling there are some nice touches.

The site is carbon neutral, which is to be commended, and punters are told ChoiceOdds will plant a tree after you've staked £100 or more. As they say: “You're probably using a bit of electricity by then so we thought we'd offset it for you”. Thanks very much. A thoughtful sentiment from a well thought-out and executed site.