This is a one-off review of Canonbury Publishing’s Financial Fixed Odds Profits Course (which I will refer to hereafter as FFOPC).

Unlike the vast majority of financial systems/methods that are concerned with trading the markets (either using spread betting or a traditional broker), FFOPC is all about making money from financial fixed odds bets using the Bet On Markets service. For those readers who are not familiar with Bet On Markets, this service offers a variety of financial bets where the user can specify the criteria and payout behind the bet, and are then quoted the cost of placing the bet. E.g. “I predict EUR/USD will not touch a price of 1.62600 in the next 5 days for a payout of £500”. The platform would then quote the stake that would be required to “buy” the bet (e.g  £400). In this case if the bet won the user would make a profit of £100. One of the key differences between betting this way and the traditional trading approach is that the risk and potential reward are fixed at the outset, i.e. if the best cost £10 then it is impossible to lose any more than that.

FFOPC is based around the use of Bet On Markets’ “no touch” bets. With these type of bets, you are effectively betting that the market will NOT touch a particular level between now and some point in the future (e.g. a week).  Therefore if you think that the market is going to rise over the next few days you could place a bet which specifies that it won’t touch some level BELOW the current price. If the market does indeed rise (or even stays where it is) without touching the specified level then you are a winner. Obviously a level close to the current price carries more risk and that is reflected by the greater odds in the bet compared to a level that is quite a way off the current price.

Now onto the course itself. The package consists of a 140-page manual with an accompanying set of CDs that covers the material in great deal. The approach to identifying bets is based around 3 main cornerstones:

1. Trend identification
2. Divergence
3. Support & resistance

Some readers are going to shudder when they see point (2) above (myself included!) Correctly identifying divergence on a chart is one of those areas of trading that comes naturally to some and is almost impossible for others. It’s such a fundamental part of this course for picking potential setups that if you’re one of those who struggles with divergence then you’re in for a torrid time with this method. That’s not so say that putting in the spadework won’t help as like most things practice can be very beneficial.

I found the materials in the course to be of very good quality, and there are lots of useful principles that can be used in regular trading as well as the fixed odds counterpart. I would say that the core method contained in the course is certainly at the subjective end of the spectrum, so if you’re a trader who likes to just follow signals then you will be disappointed. The authors do provide a number of very useful flowcharts to help with the decision making process, but ultimately it’s going to come down to your own chart interpretations. There’s also another important point to consider here. At the end of the day after you’ve gone through the detailed analysis procedure you’re only going to make long-term profits if you are able to find siutations where the Bet On Markets service get their odds wrong (i.e. they offer value). For me personally, I’m not confident of being able to beat their computer.

On the whole I would have to award this course a neutral rating. There’s a lot of useful content in their that can be applied to trading in general, but in terms of a “fixed odds cash machine” I have my reservations. Those who are able to put in the work and have a knack for spotting divergence may get some good results from this, but for every person who falls into this category there’s going to be at least one other who won’t be able to succeed with this. Canonbury do offer a money back guarantee with their products so it could be a case of try it and see.