How to

Closing out is when you end an open bet before it would normally expire by taking the equal and opposite side. You would do this to take an early profit or to cut a loss.

For example: We may offer a price of 32-35 for "the FTSE to finish up at the end of the day". You think the FTSE will rise, so you Buy at 35 for £10 a point.

Later in the day, the FTSE has risen and we are now offering a price of 80-83. To close this bet out and take an early profit you would Sell at 80 points for the same stake ie £10 a point. Your profit on the bet would be (80 - 35) x £10 = £450.

Please note that you can also partially close your floating binary bet. A partial close is when you take the equal and opposite side of the bet - but not for the full amount originally staked. You could do this to lock in an early profit or to cut a loss.

For example if you currently have a £5 per point "buy" in the FTSE, to partially close it you could "sell" £3 per point in the exact same bet.

There are two ways to close out your binary bet:

(1) Use the "Close Out" button on the Positions table. This will fill in the betting slip. To close out a bet you must click "Confirm".
(2) Manually close out all or part of your bet by filling in the betting slip with the opposing bet, rather than clicking the "Close Out" button.

Generally you would use the "Close Out" button. However, you should note that if multiple positions are open on the same instrument and bets are closed out manually (by filling in the betting slip rather than clicking the "Close Out" button) they will be closed out on a "first in, first out" basis whereby the positions will be closed in the order in which they were placed. Therefore using the "Close Out" button is the only way to close a specific bet where multiple positions are open on an instrument.

Importantly, you cannot partially close fixed odds or fixed binary bets as there is no "sell" side. Only floating binary bets can be partially closed out.

For more information on binary bets, see our comprehensive guide About Binary Bets