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Trading Tips

Written by nonkelvladimir

A completely balanced team. Players with the perfect skills. All the right specialities at the right place. The highest ratings you can imagine.

How are you ever gonna get there without some money? Here are some trading tips!

This article was published earlier on the Belgian forum by top class manager Patrickske (1526580). Be aware that these tips are indeed tips and not strict rules that will guarantee success. But they might be handy!

Know The Market!

If you want to trade, you got to have some decent knowledge about the transfer market. How do the prices evolve over the season? What's the actual worth of the player I want to buy?
The transfer market has a recurrent pattern:

week 1-4 ==> prices are at the highest
week 5-7 ==> prices lower slightly compared to week 1-4
week 7-10 ==> prices lower significantly
week 11-14==>prices are at their bottom point
week 15-16==>prices start to rise again

week 1-4 ==> prices peak again
etc...

Looking at this schedule you'll immediately see that you better try not to buy your players in the first weeks of the season, as the chances you'll sell them again with profit are not that high.
Seen from this point of view, you better buy a player in week 13-14, so you can sell him again in week 1-2 with high profits. You barely need any knowledge for this: The market will automatically provide you with some profits.

What is the player you want to buy worth?

It is very important that you know and understand the actual worth of the player you want to purchase. Most managers who want to trade, base their judgement on the Transfer Compare (TC), but it is even more important to know exactly what the specific player is worth.
For instance: Today an Outstanding striker with Passable passing has a value of about €700 000. But suddenly, you see such a striker with a TC around €450 000. Chances are big you'll be able to buy this striker for about €450 000 (because nobody likes to pay more than the average TC).
After the purchase you'll quickly notice that the TC will evolve back into the direction of the player's actual value. Bingo!

Beat the market!

If you plan to start bidding on regular players, you'll soon notice it's not that easy to purchase these kids for low prices.
Try to focus instead on players who are not so interesting at the time that you're buying them.

• Extremely low form:
Intrest will be significantly lower, but when his form gets better at your team, interest will rise once more also.
• Extremely low stamina:
Same story as with form. Try to pull this trick with players who have many sidestats, so TSI will exponently increase when form/stamina is up again. The higher the TSI, the higher the prices will be...
• Heavy injury:
With a really harsh injury, chances only increase to encounter a really low price!
• Poor form for an international:
It is always easier to resell an international. Try to purchase these as cheap as possible (e.g. due to bad form) and if you can get him to Solid, or even Excellent form, put him back on the transfer list for big profits.
• Extremely high wages:
Most teams aren't interested in players with wages above €100 000. This offers an opportunity for trades you can transfer again for a lot of cash with some luck.
• Buy players who nearly celebrate their birthday:
For a strange reason, players of 18-19y old are often a lot cheaper than a 20y old.
Consequently, you can buy a 19y old who is nearly celebrating his birthday, so you pay the price of his 19y TC. Just a few days later he'll have the (higher) TC of a 20y old, so you can sell this player quite easily with profit!
• Purchase at difficult hours:
Around 6h00 (HT Clock) there's barely anyone online... more chance for a nice transfer!
• Buy when the site is having problems:
When everybody is frikkin' angry because the forums are down or the site is immensly slow, you should get in action! Nobody is eager to surf on the transfer market right now, but you are!
• Place a strategical bid:
Let's say a player's worth and his TC tell us he's about €700 000 worth. Well, place a bid of €550 000... Interest for this player will downsize and from time to time nobody else will stop by to place a higher bid.
• Overbluff farms:
Beat a farm in trying to buy a potential NT-player. You'll quickly receive a message from the scouts asking you what you want to train. If the response isn't satisfying, then you shouldn't have much problems to resell this player for more money.
• Buy (really) old players with high wages right before their birthday:
You'll have to pay this high wage upon purchase, but the intrest in this player shall be low due to this. When the player becomes a year older, his wages will lower significantly, so all of a sudden more teams will show interest for this player.
• Buy unique players:
Unique is maybe a bit exaggerated, but still: An amazing player with the right speciality and proper secondary skills is always easier to sell for a nice price. Such players are very limited on the market, so you can set its price.
• Field your trades only 5 minutes:
Why? This way, he will perform at his maximum (no stamina loss). Many managers will interprate his performance incorrectly... the more stars, the better, for a lot of users...
• Buy really old players:
Try to buy players e.g. 34y old who still've got a high stat (e.g. Supernatural). You'll have to pay very few since your player can nearly enjoy his retirement. But! His TC will also show 32-33y old players, which in many cases really affects the TC in favorable ways for you. This way you can sell these oldies for a nice price.
• Check the TC +1y!: As said before, players of 19y old often have a value way below the same player at 20y. So check the same TC but 1 year older! Beware of the opposite story as well. Starting from 25y, values will gradually fall. So take note that a 25th birthday party might affect your trade's value quite a lot.

How to buy?

When will your trade be successful? This is only possible if your buying price is a good one. What’s a good offer?
Your goal should be to make €100 000 net profits per trade in a rather simple way. Say you discover a player you could sell for €600 000 - well, you should try to buy him for 440-450k max. If you start to work with lower margins, chances to sell it without profit will get bigger.
So be patient and if you cross your limit, stop bidding. Only start bidding after you have agreed upon a maximum bid!

How to sell?

Since you can only list a player after he has played at least once for your team, you should try to make sure he shall actually be sold. So choose the selling price at the bottom of the Transfer Compare. If the player has a nice Speciality, you can raise the minimum bid. Keep your buying price and your estimated profit margin in mind!
A player Statement (the little text balloon) with his qualities, like TSI of spec, can also be useful. Use this function if you can.

That’s about it in a nutshell. Enjoy the transfer market and if you want to discuss this article, take a look at the Forum (13745500.1)!