How to Use Technical Analysis in Sports Betting

When it comes to sports betting, technical analysis flips the script. Instead of focusing on current events or individual matchups, this approach relies entirely on past statistics and trends to make educated guesses. 

Let’s break it down so you can start applying it to your own betting strategy.

Systems and angles: what’s the difference?

In technical analysis, you’ll encounter two key concepts: systems and angles. These are patterns and trends you identify in past games, but they work on different scales.

What are systems?

Systems are broad, overarching patterns that don’t focus on specific teams or players. Instead, they highlight recurring scenarios based on historical outcomes.

For example:

• The home team is an underdog AND
• The home team lost their last game AND
• The home team has gone 13-1 against the spread (ATS) over the last two years in the NFL.

These types of systems give you a framework to follow and can be applied to multiple games over time.

What are angles?

Angles are more specific—they’re patterns that involve particular teams, players, or situations.

For example:

• John Johnson is the starting quarterback AND
• The game is being played on a Monday or Thursday AND
• Result: John Johnson has a 2-6 ATS record in those scenarios.

Angles help you dive deeper into individual matchups and make more focused bets.

Take it further with power ratings

If you’re ready to go all in on technical analysis, consider creating power ratings. These assign numerical values to every team and allow you to compare their relative strengths. Power ratings help you predict outcomes by ranking teams and finding discrepancies between your ratings and the betting lines.

Share your strategies with us

That wraps up our look at technical analysis! 

Now we’d love to hear from you:

• Have you used systems or angles in your own betting?
• Do you have a go-to strategy that’s worked for you?

Join the conversation in our community and share your tips. And remember—bet responsibly, have fun, and never wager more than you can afford to lose!