How to Use the Smart Money Tool to Read Exchange Data

The SmartStake Smart Money tool is a pregame feed of sportsbook bets priced at or above a number sharp bettors are already offering on a betting exchange. It reads resting exchange orders, works out which side the money behind them wants, and lists every sportsbook price that matches or beats it.

This guide shows how to read one of those exchange offers, how the tool decides a bet makes the feed, and how to filter, check and track what it surfaces. The background on why sharp money matters lives in what is sharp money. This page is the "how".

Try It: Read a Sharp Offer

The widget below starts from a real Kings and Spurs order book. Drag the sportsbook price on the Kings and watch which offers turn green, then shrink the big offer at −329 and watch the bet drop off the feed.

At +331 the Kings clear three of the four Spurs offers, $12,123 in all, so Opp. Liq reads $12k and the bet is on the feed. Drop the book to +328 and the $11,995 offer at −329 goes dim. Only $128 still qualifies, under the $200 floor, so the bet leaves the feed.

How an Exchange Shows Sharp Money

A betting exchange is a peer to peer market. Unlike a sportsbook such as FanDuel or DraftKings, where you bet against the house, every bet on an exchange has another bettor on the other side.

That makes exchange prices a direct read of supply and demand rather than a bookmaker's opinion. Exchanges also generally do not limit winning accounts the way sportsbooks do, so sharp bettors use them. Exchanges such as Novig, ProphetX and Kalshi show their resting orders openly, so you can see that money before the game.

Decoding the Kings and Spurs Footprint

The example in this guide is one order book captured on November 16, 2025, shown to illustrate the mechanic. It is not a user's result, and most bets on the feed carry different prices, depth and edges.

Here is the Novig order book for that Spurs and Kings game. Look at the Spurs column: $11,995 is available to bet the Spurs at −329.

That $11,995 is not Novig's money. It belongs to the bettor who posted the offer. They are telling the market: "Bet the Spurs at −329 with me, and I will pay you if the Spurs win."

Whoever posts that offer holds the other side. Paying out at −329 on the Spurs is the same position as betting the Kings at +329. A wall of money that size, at one price, is the footprint: a well funded bettor who thinks +329 is a fair or better price on the Kings.

The footprint is a benchmark, not a guarantee. Sharp bettors can be wrong, and any single bet can win or lose.

From Footprint to Feed

The Smart Money tool turns that footprint into a bet in three steps.

1. It flips each offer to your side. A Spurs offer at −329 means the maker holds the Kings at +329. A sportsbook price on the Kings counts the offer only if it matches or beats that flipped price.
2. It adds up the offers your price beats. Starting from the best price, it totals every qualifying offer. That total is Opp. Liq, and the stake weighted average price of those offers is the Comparison.
3. It applies the floor. A bet reaches the feed only when Opp. Liq is at least $200 by default, or your own Min Liquidity setting. The feed is then sorted by Opp. Liq, deepest first.

In the Kings example, 4CX offered the Kings at +331. That beats the flipped price of the −324, −327 and −329 offers but not the −334 one, so Opp. Liq is $51 + $77 + $11,995 = $12,123 and the Comparison is −329.

Flip −329 back and the sharps are taking the Kings at +329, an implied probability of 23.31%. Betting +331 against that benchmark works out to about +0.47% expected value, a thin edge on a long shot. The tool does not display that EV figure, only the two prices, and the EV is a long run average rather than a forecast for this game.

That gap between your price and the sharp price is the same idea behind positive EV betting. The difference is the benchmark: Smart Money uses the price real money is resting at, while the Positive EV tool removes the vig from sharp books to get a no vig fair price.

Using the Smart Money Tool Step by Step

Open Smart Money from the app navigation, or go straight to the Smart Money tool. The feed loads on its own, so there is nothing to scan.

1. Set Your Bankroll and Stake

The header shows your stake as one line, such as $5.0k bankroll · 1% stake. Click either value to change it.

Smart Money sizes bets as a flat percentage of your bankroll, not with Kelly. When you take a bet, the stake is filled in as bankroll times stake percentage. The bankroll is shared with the other SmartStake tools, so read bankroll management before you pick a percentage.

2. Filter the Feed

The Recommended filter covers every sportsbook in your area, with liquidity from Novig, ProphetX and Kalshi. These are the filters that change it most:

• Sportsbooks: keep only the books you hold accounts at, so every bet on the feed is one you can place. How many sportsbooks you need covers which ones are worth opening.
• Liquidity Bookmakers: choose which exchanges count toward Opp. Liq. The options are Sporttrade, Novig, ProphetX, 4Caster, 4CX, Polymarket and Kalshi. Changing them changes both Opp. Liq and the Comparison.
• Min Liquidity: raise the $200 floor to see fewer bets, each backed by more money.
• Min Bet Size: hide sportsbook lines whose posted max bet is below your stake.

Leagues, Markets, Odds and Date Range narrow the feed by sport, bet type, price and start time. You can save any combination as your own filter.

3. Read a Bet Card

Each card shows three numbers from left to right:

• Opp. Liq: the exchange money backing this bet, in green.
• Odds: the sportsbook and its price on your side. Clicking the price opens the book and offers to log the bet at your flat stake.
• Comparison: the exchanges behind the signal and their average price on the other side.

The card also shows the selection, the market, the game and its start time. When a price has gone stale, it is greyed out.

4. Check the Details

Click a card to open its details. The top of the panel is the liquidity depth chart: one bar per price on the other side, with the best price on top. Highlighted bars are offers your sportsbook price beats. Dimmed bars are offers your price does not clear. Hover a bar to see which exchange posted it.

Below the chart, two tabs let you check the price before you bet:

• Table view is the market view: what every book in your list is pricing this bet at. It is the fastest way to line shop one market.
• Line history charts how the price has moved, so you can tell a fresh move from a stale line.

A refresh button reloads the depth chart, and the settings let you choose which books the table view and line history show.

5. Track What You Take

Use the add bet button on a card or in the details to open the Track form, then Add to Bet Tracker. Logging every Smart Money bet lets you check later whether your prices beat the close, which is what closing line value measures. How to track sports bets covers what to log.

The settings button opens Edit Smart Money Settings. There you can set the refresh interval (manual, 10, 30 or 60 seconds), the odds format, and whether to show hidden bets or hide bets you have taken or that correlate with ones you hold.

Video Walkthrough

This video was recorded on an earlier version of the tool, so some labels and the layout differ from the steps above. The idea it walks through, reading exchange liquidity and comparing it to sportsbook prices, is unchanged.

Smart Money, Positive EV and Insiders

The three tools answer different questions. Smart Money asks whether serious money is resting on the other side of an exchange at a price your book beats. Positive EV asks whether a book's price beats a devigged fair price built from sharp books.

SmartStake Insiders follows audited prediction market wallets rather than order books. When two of the three agree on a bet, you have two independent reads on the same price, though neither makes the bet a sure thing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you use the SmartStake Smart Money tool?

The SmartStake Smart Money tool is used in four steps: set your bankroll and flat stake percentage in the header, narrow the feed with the Sportsbooks, Liquidity Bookmakers and Min Liquidity filters, open a bet to read its liquidity depth, market view and line history, then add the bets you place to the Bet Tracker. The feed is sorted by Opp. Liq, so the bets backed by the most exchange money sit at the top.

What does Opp. Liq mean in Smart Money?

Opp. Liq is the dollar amount resting on a betting exchange on the opposite side of your bet, at prices your sportsbook price matches or beats. Each of those offers is a bettor willing to pay out on the other side, which means they hold your side at the inverse price. A bet needs at least $200 of it, or your own Min Liquidity, to reach the feed.

What is the Comparison price on a Smart Money card?

Comparison is the stake weighted average exchange price on the other side of the bet, across every offer counted in Opp. Liq. Flip it to the other side and you get the price the sharps are taking on your side. A sportsbook price above that number is the gap the tool is built to surface, though the bet itself can still lose.

Which exchanges does Smart Money read?

By default Smart Money counts liquidity from Novig, ProphetX and Kalshi. The Liquidity Bookmakers filter can add Sporttrade, 4Caster, 4CX and Polymarket, or narrow the set, and changing it changes both Opp. Liq and the Comparison price.

Is the Smart Money tool included in every SmartStake plan?

The Smart Money tool is part of SmartStake Premium, and eligible new accounts can try it on a 5 day free trial. The Fantasy plan includes Smart Money picks on the Fantasy board but not the standalone tool. Smart Money covers pregame markets only.

Reading the Market

Smart Money shows you where informed money is resting and which sportsbook prices beat it. What you do with that is up to you. Sharp bettors can still be wrong, any single bet can lose, and results are never guaranteed. Only bet with disposable income.

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