Line movement in basketball: what it means

Line movement is the change of a spread or total between the moment it opens and the start of the game. If a total moves from 160.5 to 162.5, the market now expects more points than it did at the opening.

Why lines move

Lines react to money coming in, to news such as injuries and lineups, and to the bookmaker's own risk management. A move does not by itself say who is right: it says where the price went.

Opening and closing line

The closing line is the last price before tip-off, and it usually carries the most information because it has absorbed most of the news and money. Comparing your price with the closing line is a common way to judge whether a line was good when you took it.

How to read a move

Look at the size of the move, how fast it happened and whether other lines in the same game moved with it. A small drift over a day is routine; a sharp jump shortly before the game is usually news-driven.

LineVS records line movement for basketball and shows large moves on the line-moves page. It is information, not a recommendation.

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