Label

Element

Value

Prospectus [Line Items]

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Document Type

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485BPOS

Document Period End Date

dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate

May 01, 2015

Registrant Name

dei_EntityRegistrantName

Northern Lights Variable Trust

Central Index Key

dei_EntityCentralIndexKey

0001352621

Amendment Flag

dei_AmendmentFlag

false

Trading Symbol

dei_TradingSymbol

nlvt

Document Creation Date

dei_DocumentCreationDate

May 01, 2015

Document Effective Date

dei_DocumentEffectiveDate

May 01, 2015

Prospectus Date

rr_ProspectusDate

May 01, 2015

TOPS Managed Risk Flex ETF Portfolio

Prospectus [Line Items]

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Risk/Return [Heading]

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PORTFOLIO SUMMARY: TOPS® Managed Risk Flex ETF Portfolio

Objective [Heading]

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Investment Objectives:

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

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The Portfolio seeks to provide income and capital appreciation with less volatility than the fixed income and equity markets as a whole.

Expense [Heading]

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Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio:

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

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This table describes the annual operating expenses that you may indirectly pay if you invest in the Portfolio through your retirement plan or if you allocate your insurance contract premiums or payments to the Portfolio. However, each insurance contract and separate account involves fees and expenses that are not described in this Prospectus. If the fees and expenses of your insurance contract or separate account were included in this table, your overall expenses would be higher. You should review the insurance contract prospectus for a complete description of fees and expenses. In the table below, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies.

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio Turnover:

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. During the most recent fiscal period, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 25% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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25.00%

Expenses Not Correlated to Ratio Due to Acquired Fund Fees [Text]

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The operating expenses in this fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Portfolio’s financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Portfolio.

Expense Example [Heading]

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Example:

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

Expense Example by, Year, Caption [Text]

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The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. You would pay the same expenses if you did not redeem your shares. However, each insurance contract and separate account involves fees and expenses that are not included in the Example. If these fees and expenses were included in the Example, your overall expenses would be higher. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]

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Principal Investment Strategies:

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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The Portfolio employs a fund-of-funds structure that invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"). The Portfolio also employs exchange-traded futures contracts to hedge market risk and reduce return volatility (i.e., the range in which the Portfolio’s return fluctuates over time). Each ETF included in the Portfolio invests primarily in securities representing one of the following asset classes:

• Government Fixed Income Securities

• Corporate Fixed Income Securities

• Common and Preferred Stocks

• Real Estate-Related Securities ("REITS")

• Natural Resource-Related Securities

The Portfolio restricts investment in fixed income ETFs to those with an average maturity of 20 years or less and invests primarily in ETFs with average portfolio credit quality of investment grade. No more than 15% of the portfolio will be allocated to fixed income ETFs with an average portfolio credit quality below investment grade (commonly referred to as "junk bond" credit quality). The Portfolio defines investment grade credit quality as Baa3 or higher by Moody's Investors Service or BBB- or higher by Standard and Poor's Rating Group. The Portfolio invests in ETFs that may invest in securities without restriction as to underlying issuer country, capitalization or currency. The Portfolio invests in REIT ETFs and Natural Resource ETFs without restriction as to underlying issuer capitalization.

The Portfolio’s adviser seeks to achieve the Portfolio’s investment objectives by allocating assets and selecting individual ETFs using the adviser's TOPS® (The Optimized Portfolio System) methodology. The TOPS® methodology utilizes multiple asset classes in an effort to enhance performance and/or reduce risk (as measured by return volatility). Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests at least 25% of its assets in equity ETFs and at least 20% of its assets in fixed income ETFs. However, to achieve the Portfolio’s income aspect of the Portfolio’s investment objectives, the adviser may allocate up to 70% of Portfolio assets to fixed income ETFs. To achieve the capital appreciation aspect of the Portfolio’s investment objectives, the adviser may allocate up to 80% of Portfolio assets to a combination of equity ETFs, REIT ETFs and natural resource ETFs. Furthermore, the adviser selects some equity ETFs that are composed of value stocks. The adviser expects value stocks, those with a lower than average price-to-earnings ratio, to have returns that are less volatile than the equity market as a whole.

The adviser selects individual ETFs that it believes are reasonably representative of an asset class and have relatively low expenses and/or relatively high returns when compared to a peer group of ETFs. The adviser may sell individual ETFs to rebalance asset allocation or to purchase a substitute ETF with a higher expected return or lower risk profile or for any other reason.

The Portfolio's adviser seeks to manage return volatility by employing a sub-adviser to execute the portfolio "managed risk" strategy. The sub-adviser’s managed risk strategy consists of using hedge instruments (exchange-traded futures contracts) to reduce the downside risk of the majority of the Portfolio's securities. The sub-adviser may use: equity futures contracts, treasury futures contracts, currency futures contracts, and other hedge instruments judged by the sub-adviser to be necessary to achieve the goals of the managed risk strategy. The sub-adviser may also buy or sell futures contracts based on one or more market indices in an attempt to maintain the Portfolio’s volatility at the targeted level in an environment in which the sub-adviser expects market volatility to decrease or increase, respectively. The sub-adviser selects individual futures contracts that it believes will have prices that are highly correlated (negatively) to the Portfolio's ETF positions. The sub-adviser adjusts futures positions to manage overall net Portfolio risk exposure, in an attempt to stabilize the volatility of the Portfolio around a target level set by the Adviser and to reduce the potential for portfolio losses during periods of significant and sustained market decline. The sub-adviser regularly monitors and forecasts volatility in the markets utilizing a proprietary model, and adjusts the Portfolio’s futures positions in response to specific changes in the market and in the Portfolio. In addition, the sub-adviser will monitor liquidity levels of relevant futures contracts and transparency provided by exchanges as the counterparties in hedging transactions. Following market declines, a downside rebalancing strategy will be used to decrease the amount of futures contracts used to hedge the Portfolio. The sub-adviser also adjusts futures positions to realign individual hedges when the adviser rebalances the Portfolio's asset allocation profile. Depending on market conditions, scenarios may occur where the Portfolio has no positions in any futures contracts.

There is no guarantee the Portfolio will meet its investment objectives.

The Portfolio and the adviser have requested that the Securities and Exchange Commission grant an order that allows the adviser to hire a new sub-adviser or sub-advisers without shareholder approval. Until that order is granted, shareholder approval is required if the adviser hires a new sub-adviser or sub-advisers. However, there is no guarantee that such an order will be issued.

Risk [Heading]

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Principal Investment Risks:

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Portfolio. Many factors affect the Portfolio’s net asset value and performance.

The following principal risks apply to the Portfolio. Many of these risks come from the Portfolio’s investments in ETFs and futures. The value of your investment in the Portfolio will go up and down with the prices of the securities in which the Portfolio invests.

• Credit Risk: Issuers might not make payments on debt securities, resulting in losses. Credit quality of securities may be lowered if an issuer's financial condition changes, also resulting in losses.

• Emerging Markets Risk: In addition to the risks generally associated with investing in securities of foreign companies, countries with emerging markets also may have relatively unstable governments, social and legal systems that do not protect shareholders, economies based on only a few industries, and securities markets that trade a small number of issues.

• ETF Risk: The cost of investing in the Portfolio will be higher than the cost of investing directly in ETFs and may be higher than other mutual funds that invest directly in stocks and bonds. Each ETF is subject to specific risks, depending on the nature of the fund.

• Foreign Currency Risk: Foreign equity securities denominated in non-US dollar currencies will subject the Portfolio to currency trading risks that include market risk and country risk. Market risk results from adverse changes in exchange rates. Country risk arises because a government may interfere with transactions in its currency.

• Foreign Investment Risk: Foreign investing involves risks not typically associated with U.S. investments, including adverse fluctuations in foreign currency values, adverse political, social and economic developments, less liquidity, greater volatility, less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability and differing auditing and legal standards.

• Fund of Funds Risk: The Portfolio’s principal investment strategy involves investing in ETFs. Investors may be able to invest directly in the ETFs and may not need to invest through the Portfolio. The cost of investing directly in the Portfolio may be higher than the cost of investing directly in the ETFs. Investors of the Portfolio will indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the ETFs in which the Portfolio invests in addition to the Portfolio’s direct fees and expenses. The Portfolio will incur brokerage costs when it purchases shares of investment companies.

• Futures Risk: Futures contract positions may not provide an effective hedge because changes in futures contract prices may not track those of the ETFs they are intended to hedge. Futures create leverage, which can magnify the Portfolio’s potential for gain or loss and, therefore, amplify the effects of market volatility on the Portfolio’s share price.

• Hedging Risk: Futures contracts may not provide an effective hedge of the underlying securities or indexes because changes in the prices of futures contracts may not track those of the securities or indexes that they are intended to hedge. In addition, the managed risk strategy may not effectively protect the Portfolio from market declines and may limit the Portfolio’s participation in market gains. The use of the managed risk strategy could cause the Portfolio to underperform as compared to the Underlying Funds and other mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

• Interest Rate Risk : The value of bonds and other fixed income securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates cause a decline in the value of fixed income securities.

• Junk Bond Risk: Lower-quality bonds, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and the Portfolio’s ETFs holding these bonds. The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Portfolio’s share price.

• Management Risk: The adviser's dependence on the TOPS® methodology and judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of particular asset classes, securities and futures in which the Portfolio invests may prove to be incorrect and may not produce the desired results. The sub-adviser's portfolio managed risk strategy may not effectively protect the Portfolio from market declines and may limit the Portfolio’s participation in market gains.

• Market Risk: Overall securities market risks may affect the value of futures and individual ETFs. Factors such as foreign and domestic economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels, and political events may adversely affect the securities and futures markets.

• Natural Resource Risk: Exposure to companies primarily engaged in the natural resource markets (which for this purpose includes agribusiness) may subject the Portfolio to greater volatility than the securities market as a whole. Natural resource companies are affected by commodity price volatility, changes in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs, and international economic, political and regulatory developments.

• Real Estate Risk: Real estate values rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, including local, regional and national economic conditions, interest rates and tax considerations. REIT ETF performance depends on the types and locations of the properties it owned by the relevant REITs and on how well those REITs manage those properties.

• Small and Medium Capitalization Stock Risk: The value of a small or medium capitalization company stocks may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than those of larger, more established companies or the market averages in general.

Before investing in the Fund, you should carefully consider your own investment goals, the amount of time you are willing to leave your money invested, and the amount of risk you are willing to take.

Who Should Invest in the Portfolio?

The adviser believes the Portfolio is appropriate for investors with intermediate-term to long-term investment horizons who seek to balance out a desire for investment returns with a desire for lower levels of risk than typically found in funds with medium-to-aggressive asset allocation.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Portfolio.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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Performance:

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The bar chart and performance table below show the variability of the Portfolio’s returns, which is some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows performance of the Portfolio for each full calendar year since the Portfolio's inception. The performance table compares the performance of the share classes of the Portfolio over time to the performance of a broad-based securities market index. You should be aware that the Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) may not be an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by calling 1-855-572-5945.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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The bar chart and performance table below show the variability of the Portfolio’s returns, which is some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Performance Availability Phone [Text]

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1-855-572-5945

Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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You should be aware that the Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) may not be an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.

Bar Chart [Heading]

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Annual Total Return For Calendar Years Ended December 31

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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Best Quarter:	2nd Quarter 2014	3.18%
Worst Quarter:	3rd Quarter 2014	(2.26)%

Highest Quarterly Return, Label

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Best Quarter:

Highest Quarterly Return, Date

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Jun. 30, 2014

Highest Quarterly Return

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3.18%

Lowest Quarterly Return, Label

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Worst Quarter:

Lowest Quarterly Return, Date

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Sep. 30, 2014

Lowest Quarterly Return

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(2.26%)

Performance Table Heading

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Performance Table

Average Annual Total Returns

(For period ended December 31, 2014)

Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text]

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Index returns assume reinvestment of dividends. Its performance does not reflect any deduction for fees, management expenses or taxes.

Performance Table Closing [Text Block]

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The Standard and Poor's 500 Total Return Index is an unmanaged market capitalization-weighted index of 500 of the largest capitalized U.S. domiciled companies. Index returns assume reinvestment of dividends. Its performance does not reflect any deduction for fees, management expenses or taxes. An investor cannot invest directly in an index.

TOPS Managed Risk Flex ETF Portfolio | Standard & Poor's 500 Total Return Index

Prospectus [Line Items]

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1 Year

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13.69%

Since Inception

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21.42%

TOPS Managed Risk Flex ETF Portfolio | TOPS Managed Risk Flex ETF Portfolio

Prospectus [Line Items]

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Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets)

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0.30%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

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0.45%

Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets):

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0.10%

^[1]

Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses

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0.23%

^[2]

Expenses (as a percentage of Assets)

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1.08%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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110

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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343

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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595

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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1,317

Annual Return 2014

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2.54%

Label

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Return

1 Year

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2.54%

Since Inception

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6.54%

^[3]

Inception Date

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Aug. 27, 2013

[1] Other expenses are contractually limited to 0.10%.

[2] Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies. The operating expenses in this fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Portfolio's financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Portfolio.

[3] Inception date of the TOPS Conservative ETF Portfolio is August 27, 2013.