What is steam move in sports betting?

The word describes speed and breadth more than size. In an ordinary adjustment one operator nudges a number and the rest follow over hours. In a steam move several operators change within a few minutes of each other, often by a point on a spread, a point or two on a total, or a large step in price. There is no formal threshold, so one person's steam move is another person's routine update.

Operators watch each other and many use shared data feeds, which is why a change at one place spreads quickly. Two explanations dominate. One is a burst of wagers from accounts that operators treat as informed, which makes them reprice before more arrive. The other is information: a player ruled out, a weather change or a starting pitcher swap reaches every operator at once and moves them together. From the number alone, the two look alike.

Because the change travels fast, the old number often disappears before a reader sees it. What remains is the new line, which already includes whatever caused the move. Researching a steam move means asking what changed, whether the new number now sits close to the other operators, and whether the price still available is better or worse than the one offered a few minutes earlier.