Find the Best Betting Exchange for the Bets You Place
Eight exchanges, four brokers. The order counts how many brokers open each exchange. It is not a score.
Before the best betting exchange comes a plainer question: which exchange does your account open? This list answers that one. It ranks eight exchanges by how many of the four brokers on this site open them. Betfair and Orbit Exchange lead, because all four brokers open both. Betdaq, Matchbook, Mollybet, Polymarket and Smarkets follow, each opened by BetInAsia, MadMarket and Sportmarket. Kalshi comes last, opened by BetInAsia and MadMarket.
Nothing is scored. Where an exchange’s own terms state a commission, its line says so, and no exchange is rated on it or on liquidity.
The eight exchanges, in order of reach
A “best exchange” list usually ranks how an exchange treats you. This one ranks how you get in.
Each line gives the count, the brokers that open the exchange, and two short verdicts that rest on access alone. Where the exchange’s own terms state a commission, the line says what they state; that is the rate for its own customers, not what a broker route charges. Betfair and Orbit Exchange are opened through a named tool at every broker, so the tool names appear on those two lines. The other six are opened through the broker’s platform. Five of them (Betdaq, Matchbook, Mollybet, Polymarket and Smarkets) share the same three brokers, so their order is alphabetical and means nothing more.
- Betfair. Opened by 4 of 4: AsianConnect (Piwi247), BetInAsia and MadMarket (Sharp Exchange), Sportmarket (FairExchange). Its own terms charge commission on net winnings in a market, with stakes left out of the sum. Its charges page makes the rate depend on the customer: on a rewards package where that programme runs, and otherwise on a market base rate that points earned by betting can reduce. Best for: an AsianConnect account that wants a second exchange next to Orbit Exchange, since Betfair is the only other one it opens. Not ideal if: you want a third exchange as well, because AsianConnect opens no more than these two.
- Orbit Exchange. Opened by 4 of 4: AsianConnect (OrbitX), BetInAsia and MadMarket (Sharp Exchange), Sportmarket (FairExchange). This site is built around it, which is why its line runs longer: what Orbit Exchange is has the exchange itself and the routes into Orbit Exchange has the doors. Best for: a bettor who wants this exchange on any of the four accounts, whatever the tool is called on the door. Not ideal if: you want to register with the exchange itself, because the way in is a broker.
- Betdaq. Opened by 3 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket, Sportmarket. Its own terms set the normal commission rate on net market winnings at 2% for residents of the UK, Ireland, Gibraltar and Jersey and 5% for every other territory, with nothing due on a net loss; some sports carry an enhanced rate, marked in the market information. Best for: a BetInAsia, MadMarket or Sportmarket account that wants a second exchange beside Orbit Exchange. Not ideal if: your account is at AsianConnect, which does not open it.
- Matchbook. Opened by 3 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket, Sportmarket. Its own terms charge 2% on net profits to customers in the UK, the Isle of Man, the Channel Isles and Ireland, and 4% to all other customers, and 2% to every customer on enhanced special markets. Best for: an account that already holds Betfair and Orbit Exchange and is ready for a third exchange. Not ideal if: AsianConnect is your broker, because its count stops at two.
- Mollybet. Opened by 3 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket, Sportmarket. The matrix files it with the exchanges; its own terms describe a platform that gives aggregated access to accounts held at third-party betting operators and lets the customer place bets with them, and say the company is not a bookmaker or a betting intermediary. Best for: a bettor who has already picked one of those three brokers and wants Mollybet on the same account. Not ideal if: you are still choosing a broker and AsianConnect is on the shortlist, since it does not open Mollybet.
- Polymarket. A prediction market, not a sports exchange. Opened by 3 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket, Sportmarket. Its documentation charges takers, on the markets that carry a fee, shares × rate × price × (1 − price), at a rate of 0.05 for sports, and charges makers nothing. Best for: reading a prediction-market price beside the prices of sports exchanges. Not ideal if: your account is at AsianConnect, which does not open it.
- Smarkets. Opened by 3 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket, Sportmarket. Its own terms set the default commission at 2% of net winnings in each market (the default tier is limited to 1,500 placed bets or £1,000,000 staked a month), with an optional Pro tier at 1% on winnings or losses per bet, and a Select tier at 3% on the same basis, which Smarkets may apply to accounts with a net profit above £25,000 over the previous twelve calendar months. Best for: an account that wants one more price to read against the others. Not ideal if: you hold only an AsianConnect account, where Smarkets is closed.
- Kalshi. A prediction market, and the narrowest reach on the list. Opened by 2 of 4: BetInAsia, MadMarket. Best for: a prediction-market price on a BetInAsia or MadMarket account. Not ideal if: your account is at AsianConnect or Sportmarket, which do not open it.
Every “not ideal if” above turns on the broker, never on the exchange’s merit. Change the broker and the verdict changes with it.
Where the order comes from
Show the working, then. A ranking with no working is only an opinion.
The counts come from the coverage matrix kept for this site. For each of eight exchanges (Betdaq, Betfair, Kalshi, Matchbook, Mollybet, Orbit Exchange, Polymarket and Smarkets) it records which of the four brokers open it. The order is the number of brokers, highest first, then alphabetical. There is no score, no weighting and no star rating. The list rests on the matrix, not on a trial of the exchanges themselves.
One artefact needs saying out loud. Betfair and Orbit Exchange lead because AsianConnect opens only two exchanges, and these are the two. Take AsianConnect out of the count and seven exchanges tie on three brokers each, with Kalshi on two. So read the top of the list as “any account here can open this”, not as “this one is better”.
Exchanges each broker opens, out of eight:
- AsianConnect
- 2 of 8
- BetInAsia
- 8 of 8
- MadMarket
- 8 of 8
- Sportmarket
- 7 of 8
The tool behind every other cell of the full grid is on what a broker account opens; this page stops at Betfair and Orbit Exchange. How pages here are written, and what they leave out on purpose, has its own page.
Reach, exchange by exchange
Same counts, drawn. Each bar is the number of brokers, out of four, that open the exchange.
From the coverage matrix kept for this site.
Show the data table
| Exchange | Brokers opening it |
|---|---|
| Betfair | 4 of 4 |
| Orbit Exchange | 4 of 4 |
| Betdaq | 3 of 4 |
| Matchbook | 3 of 4 |
| Mollybet | 3 of 4 |
| Polymarket | 3 of 4 |
| Smarkets | 3 of 4 |
| Kalshi | 2 of 4 |
Two full bars, five at three, one at two. Read the middle five as one block. Betdaq, Matchbook, Mollybet, Polymarket and Smarkets have the same three brokers, so choosing among them is not an access decision. It comes after the account is open, on the markets you bet and the price you can get.
Access gets more useful as the want-list grows. Say you want Matchbook and Mollybet on one account. The same three brokers open both, so the second wish costs nothing. Add Kalshi and Sportmarket drops out. Each name you add can only shrink the field. The place finder runs that narrowing for any list you tick.
Exchange, prediction market or platform?
Betfair, Orbit Exchange, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets are sports exchanges. Polymarket and Kalshi are prediction markets. Mollybet, the eighth, is by its own terms a platform that gives aggregated access to accounts at third-party operators, and the matrix files it with the exchanges. They sit in one list because brokers open them side by side, and they are not the same product.
A sports exchange
Betfair, Orbit Exchange, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets. On a sports exchange, backers and layers face each other.
- A back is a bet that the selection wins.
- A lay is a bet that it does not.
Best for: reading a match from both sides, with a back or a lay on the same selection.
Not ideal if: you want one yes-or-no contract that pays 1 unit and is quoted in cents.
A prediction market
Polymarket and Kalshi. A contract pays 1 unit if the outcome happens, and its price is read as a chance. A price of 35 cents is a 35% chance, which is 2.857 in decimal odds.
- The price is the chance, in cents.
- The decimal odds are 100 divided by the price.
Best for: reading an event as a single price, beside the prices of sports exchanges.
Not ideal if: you want the back and lay columns of a sports exchange.
If back and lay are new, back and lay in one example works through the arithmetic. If a cents price needs a translation, turning a prediction market price into odds does it in both directions, and how an exchange works covers how a sports exchange matches one bettor to another.
Does football change the answer?
Say you have a football read and one broker account. Before asking which exchange is best, ask which ones that account opens: two for some brokers, eight for others.
No exchange is named the winner here, because nothing behind this page measures football depth on any of them. What the page can give is four checks, in the order that cuts the list fastest.
Does your broker open it? This one cuts hardest. At AsianConnect the answer is yes for two exchanges, at BetInAsia and MadMarket for all eight, at Sportmarket for seven. The counts are in the ledger above. Everything below applies only to what survives it.
Say the door is open. Three checks pick between what is left.
How deep is it at your price? On an exchange the biggest stake that goes through is whatever other bettors offer at that price. Depth belongs to a market at a moment, not to an exchange’s name, so a price near the centre of a match market and one a few steps away are different questions. How depth is read takes it apart, and room at the price shows how it meets a stake cap.
Does it list the markets you bet? Three facts are on the record. Orbit Exchange puts Soccer at the head of its list of sports. BetInAsia lists Football among the sports on Sharp Exchange. Edge, the MadMarket platform, lists 1X2, Asian Handicap and Asian Total in its markets. That last one is the tool’s own market list, not a statement about how deep any exchange behind it is.
What does your route take? On the Orbit routes, commission follows the route you reach the exchange by; elsewhere, on Edge and on Sportmarket’s platform, it is already in the price shown. The commission page shows the Orbit routes and runs a bet through the calculator at the rate you enter.
If two exchanges survive the first check, take the one that lists your market, and compare prices as your route shows them.
What this ranking leaves out
Access is not quality
This ranking measures one thing: how many brokers open an exchange. The commission lines come from the terms of the exchanges that state one, and are not ranked, because they change with the territory and the tier. A high place says nothing about commission, liquidity or markets.
Commission is where readers expect a number, so here is how it stands. For Betfair, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets (default tier) it is charged on net winnings in a market; Smarkets’ Pro tier (optional) and Select tier (applied above a profit threshold) charge per bet; Polymarket charges takers per trade. On Edge at MadMarket and on the platform at Sportmarket, the exchange fees are already inside the price shown. On the Orbit routes the commission is charged on the net profit of a market, and AsianConnect, MadMarket and Sportmarket each announce 3% on theirs. The rest is on the page on commission.
Countries come first. Several brokers and exchanges name places they do not serve in their own terms, and a high place here does not override one.
Seven quick questions
Can I reach a betting exchange through a broker?
Yes. The broker account opens the exchange through the broker’s tool. For Orbit Exchange that tool is OrbitX at AsianConnect, Sharp Exchange at BetInAsia and MadMarket, and FairExchange at Sportmarket. The four brokers side by side puts them in one table.
Do I need more than one exchange?
Not to start. One exchange is enough to back and lay. A second earns its place when you want another price on the same event, and it has to be one your broker opens. At AsianConnect the second can only be Betfair or Orbit Exchange, whichever you did not start with.
Why does the list rank by access and not by quality?
Access is the part this site can count. The matrix says which brokers open which exchange. An exchange’s terms say what it charges, in its own words, not which one costs you less or runs deeper, so a ranking on those would be a guess with a number on it.
How do I read a commission line?
By basis first, then territory. Betfair, Betdaq, Matchbook and Smarkets at its default tier charge on net winnings in a market; Smarkets’ Pro and Select tiers charge per bet. Betdaq and Matchbook set the rate by territory, and Betfair by customer. Those are the exchanges’ rates for their own customers; on the Orbit routes the rate is the route’s, and on Edge and Sportmarket’s platform it is in the price. Then put one stake and one set of odds through the rate that applies to you. Comparing prices after commission does that sum between a bookmaker’s price and an exchange’s.
What separates an exchange from a prediction market?
What is quoted. On a sports exchange it is a selection you back or lay. On a prediction market it is a contract on an outcome, priced in cents. The section on exchanges and prediction markets sets the two side by side.
Which exchange for football?
The one your broker opens that lists the markets you bet, with depth at the price you want. This page names no winner, because it holds no football depth figure for any exchange. The four checks above are the method.
Do all four brokers open the same exchanges?
No. Betfair and Orbit Exchange are open to every broker. After those two the counts split: AsianConnect opens no other exchange, BetInAsia and MadMarket open all eight, and Sportmarket opens seven, everything except Kalshi.
From the list to the door
For one exchange bet set beside a multi-pick position, a short comparison shows how each is built. If Orbit Exchange is the one you are after, the access guide lays out the four ways in. To compare the places each account opens, tick your exchanges in the finder, then read the full broker grid for the rest. Once you have picked, the sign-up steps take over.