Line history

Where you see it

The same line history chart appears everywhere SmartStake shows a bet's price over time: in the expanded bet and the bet details on Positive EV, Smart Money, Insiders and Fantasy, in the bet details panel on the Odds Screen, on a tracked bet in the Bet Tracker, and larger in the centre of Advanced.

What it shows

The chart plots the price of one side of the market, one line per sportsbook, on a shared time axis. Each line is a step: it holds flat until the book posts a new price, then jumps to it. A line that runs to the right edge means the book is still offering that price; a line that breaks means the book pulled it.

Alongside the books it draws the fair line, dashed: the no-vig price from the sharp books. The gap between the bet's book and the fair line is shaded, green while the bet is +EV and red while it is not, so you can see how long an edge lasted.

The fair line is priced the way the tool you are in prices its bets. On Positive EV and Fantasy that is your current filter; elsewhere it is SmartStake's default sharp books, led by Pinnacle.

The price scale is implied probability, labelled in your odds format (American, decimal or fractional), so the same move looks the same size on a favourite and an underdog. Longer prices sit higher on the scale, so a line that rises is drifting out and a line that falls is shortening.

Telling the books apart

• Price tags - each book quoting the market now has a tag at the right edge, outlined in its line's colour, with the book's logo and its current price. A thin line joins each tag to the end of its line, so the tags never overlap even when the prices bunch together.
• Highlighting a book - click or tap a book's tag and its line is drawn bold while every other line greys out. Press the tag again to show every line.
• The legend - above the chart, every book that prices the market. The bet's own book and the fair line are always shown. Click any other book to turn its line on or off: a book that is on has a filled dot and its logo in colour; a book that is off has a hollow dot, a grey logo and its name struck through.

By default the chart shows the bet's book, the book with the best price, and your sharp books. If you have picked books under Settings > Line History Books, it shows those instead.

Reading a moment

Hover anywhere on the chart to read each book's price at that moment, with its EV against the fair price then. On a phone, drag one finger across the chart and the prices at that moment show in a card at the top of the screen, so the chart stays clear.

Moving around

• Ranges - the buttons below the chart. Before the game: Since open, 24h, 6h and 1h, opening on Since open. Once the game is live: Since start, 15m and 5m, opening on 5m.
• Pan and zoom - drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and drag the price scale to stretch it. Double-click the price scale to fit it again, or the time scale to jump back to now. On a phone, use two fingers to pan and zoom.
• Following live - on a live market the chart follows the latest prices as they arrive. Pan away to study an earlier stretch and it stops following; Jump to now brings you back.
• How far back - the chart keeps the last 3 days of a market. The last hour shows every price change. Older stretches show each book's last price in each minute, and in each 10 minutes once they are more than 6 hours old, so a price that moved and moved back within the same minute (or the same 10 minutes) is not drawn.

Markers

• Off the board - when the bet's book has pulled its line, the chart says so, with its last price, so you do not chase a price that is not there.
• Start and pre-game close - the chart marks when the game started and, on a live game, draws the bet's book's last pre-game price as a reference line, so you can see how far the live line has moved.
• Game markers - when you are signed in and the game is live, score changes and new periods are marked as they happen while you have the page open.

Reading line movement

A line that moves sharply across several books in a short window, sometimes called steam, suggests sharp money: one book moves and the others follow. A line that drifts slowly may just reflect public betting or routine adjustment.

Where a line settles just before the game is the closing line, the market's consensus once everything is priced in. Comparing the price you took to the closing line is closing-line value (CLV); once a tracked bet settles, SmartStake scores it for you. See Closing line value and the betting glossary.

Related pages

• Advanced - one market full screen, with this chart at its centre, both sides in tabs, and full screen for the chart.
• Odds Screen - the cross-book odds grid, where any price opens the bet details panel with its line history.
• Market view - every book's current price for the market.
• Closing line value - how SmartStake scores the price you took against the closing line.
• Betting glossary - steam, closing line, and closing-line value.