What is Combined Score?
A practical guide to the Combined Score table — how the signal is built, when it is most actionable, and where it can mislead.
The short answer
The Combined Score table for Football 1 X 2 fuses two independent market signals — odds drop percentage and betting volume share — into a single score per outcome. High-scoring cells reveal selections where sustained price compression meets concentrated money flow, a rare alignment that sharp bettors look for before kickoff.
How the score is built
For each outcome we measure two independent things:
- Drop % — how much the Betfair price has compressed relative to its opening level (the same number shown in the Dropping Odds tables).
- Moneyway % — share of total matched volume currently sitting on that outcome (the same number shown in the Moneyway tables).
The combined signal is the product of the two. Either signal alone is informative, but their alignment is what filters out noise:
- A 12% price drop on an outcome that holds only 5% of the volume is usually a thin trade — easy to dismiss.
- An outcome with 70% of the volume but no price movement is "expected money" — the favourite everyone bets on.
- A 12% drop combined with 70% of the volume means real liquidity is pushing the price in one direction. That is the convergence the table is designed to surface.
How to read the cells
Sort by Combined Signal to see the strongest convergences at the top of the page. The cell colour intensifies as the score climbs:
- ≥ 3000 — extreme convergence; very rare, deserves a closer look.
- 1500 – 3000 — very strong signal; both drop and volume are well above average.
- 500 – 1500 — strong signal; worth investigating against your own analysis.
- 100 – 500 — mild signal; one of the two inputs is doing most of the work.
- < 100 — weak or no convergence; the table is showing this row for completeness only.
When the signal is most actionable
The Combined Score is most useful in the final hours before kickoff, when both drop and volume have had time to develop. Use it to:
- Pre-screen a list of fixtures down to a handful of high-conviction candidates.
- Confirm a read you already had from injury news, line-up changes or expected lineups.
- Spot late moves that the closing line is still adjusting to.
What it cannot tell you
Market signals such as odds drops and Moneyway percentages are indicators, not certainties. They can reflect:
- Genuine information moving the market — what we hope to find.
- Public money piling onto a popular team or a derby.
- Deliberate bookmaker traps designed to attract the wrong side of a line.
- Thin overnight trades that look meaningful in percentage terms but are tiny in cash.
Sharp money can be wrong, and sport always holds surprises. Treat the Combined Score as one input alongside statistics, line-up news, expert opinions and your own model — never as a stand-alone "buy" signal.