# Steam move

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Canonical: https://novigapi.com/learn/steam-move

A steam move is a sudden, sharp line movement in the same direction across many books at once, usually caused by coordinated or respected money.

A steam move is a fast, broad move in a betting line. Within a minute or two, the price on one side shortens across many books at the same time. Steam is usually triggered by a large, respected bettor or a betting group hitting several books at once, or by news that every sharp market reacts to together. Books that are slow to move become targets, which is why steam chasing is a recognized strategy.

## How it works

A steam move has three marks: size, speed and breadth. The line moves by a meaningful amount, such as a half point on a spread or several points of implied probability on a moneyline. It happens quickly, often inside a few minutes. And it happens everywhere at once rather than at one book. A single book moving on its own is usually that book managing its own exposure, not steam.

## Worked example

An illustrative steam sequence on a Novig moneyline, shown as the fair Yes price:

A steam move in fair Yes price (illustrative)

| Time (ET) | Fair Yes | American | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 18:00:00 | 48.0% | +108.3 |  |
| 18:01:10 | 50.0% | +100.0 | +2.0 pts |
| 18:01:40 | 53.0% | -112.8 | +3.0 pts |
| 18:02:30 | 55.0% | -122.2 | +2.0 pts |


Seven points of probability in two and a half minutes, moving the side from an underdog to a clear favorite. If a sportsbook still showed +105 on this side at 18:02:30, it would be pricing at 48.8% implied against a fair 55%, a gap the [EV calculator](https://novigapi.com/ev-calculator) values at about 12.8 cents per dollar.

## On Novig

Novig is useful for spotting steam because its prices come from traders and update as orders hit the book. Our `/line-moves` endpoint lists recent moves over a threshold, and our steam webhook fires when a market moves fast enough to qualify. On paid plans REST data is at most about 10 seconds old and the stream pushes changes within 5 to 30 seconds, so you will see steam soon after it starts, not before. The free plan's stream is delayed 300 seconds, which is too slow to act on steam.

## Common mistakes

- Chasing after the move is done. Once every book has moved, the value is gone.
- Treating any move as steam. One book adjusting to its own liability is not the same signal.
- Ignoring the reason. Steam on injury news is information; steam on a single large bet may be a head fake.

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