Q&A

We recommend a qualifier and a suggested stake based on what the member has told us they want. They are under no obligation to place a stake, to use the suggested stake, or to take that qualifying runner. Fees and the Internal Working Bank still follow the recommended path as though they had. Skipping will affect your own Working Bank if you track actuals or edit the balance. See Members’ rules: Our fair charging structure.

You may size any exchange stake as you wish. Recommended stakes follow the published plan — £50 stake collar and £100 stake cap per qualifying runner per seat. Want more size? Reserve another seat. We limit how much can be staked per seat on each runner (£100 stake cap). If too much money piles onto one horse compared with the rest of the field, the starting price (the odds) tends to shorten — and returns for everyone at the table get worse. Nobody benefits if that happens, including people who try to stake more than the seat allows. We also set a £50 stake collar. If the staking plan would drop below that (for example 1% of £4,950 = £49.50), the next trade is still £50 — not a smaller stake. A bust only happens if the Working Bank reaches £0. The fee path uses recommended stake × BSP on that seat’s Internal Working Bank.

A small percentage of bank typically reduces swing size. Strategies shows bands such as 0.75%, 1% and 1.25% with a £50 stake collar and a £100 stake cap per seat. Plan changes before 10:00 UK on a race day apply that day to the Internal Working Bank; after that, from the next day. If the plan would stake below the £50 collar, the stake stays at £50. If the plan would stake above the £100 cap, the stake stays at £100 — want more size, reserve another seat. The modelled path only stops if the Working Bank goes below £0.

Each seat is its own lifecycle — you can hold several seats, including more than one at the same table. Two or more seats at the same table always receive the same qualifiers. Extra seats mean a proportionately higher stake allowance on those same runners (for example two seats → up to £200 on that qualifier), not different tips. House shape 15² (up to 15 seats per table) keeps total stake pressure on each qualifier for that table around £1,500 at £100 per seat. Each seat has its own WB, IWB, and success-fee high-water mark. Moving a seat to another table (subject to availability) continues that seat’s banks and high-water mark — whether profit or loss — as if you carried the seat with you; the seat rate follows the new table’s rate if different. Closing a seat does not wipe a big recommended win or hide underperformance: any crystallised or still-due high-water success fee can be settled within 6 months of close. Household totals are the sum of seats — we do not merge banks across seats. Prepaid locks: no automatic refund on early leave. If we refill your seat, you may receive a partial refund of the unused prepaid period (subject to seat terms; introducer commission on refunded amounts is not retained). Closing a seat does not erase that seat’s Internal Working Bank high-water mark; any due success fee may still be settled within 6 months of close.

You can start with less, but the annual seat fee and percentage staking on a thin bank mean higher relative cost and volatility — a higher-risk path in practice. Size membership and stakes to what you can afford to lose.