💰 Transfer Market Guide

The transfer market is a live auction house: every card is listed at a bid price and a buy-now price, with a 5% EA tax on every sale. Trading profit comes from the spread — buying below the going rate (sniping, bidding) and selling at or above it. Prices move with supply (packs in circulation) and demand (meta shifts, SBC requirements, real-world form).

• The 5% tax — every sale loses it; price accordingly or the spread eats you.
• Supply waves — promo pack events flood the market and crash prices; buy on the dip, sell on the recovery.
• Demand spikes — SBC releases and real-world performances move specific cards within minutes.

Sniping is buying underpriced cards the instant they are listed — it rewards speed and repetition more than capital. Bidding is slower but steadier: place bids on in-demand cards below market value and let the auctions come to you. Both patterns work on the same principle: the 5% tax means you need roughly a 6% spread just to break even, so target spreads of 10-20% minimum.

The market breathes on a weekly cycle: prices fall through the weekend (rewards flood in, supply rises) and recover midweek (SBC demand, weekend-league prep). Layered on top are event cycles — promo Fridays crash the market with new supply, and SBC releases spike specific fodder positions. Trading with the cycle instead of against it is the difference between steady profit and frustration.

• Weekend — supply peak: buy, do not sell.
• Monday-Thursday — demand peak: sell, do not buy.
• Promo Friday — new-card supply wave: hold value cards, expect dips.
• SBC day — fodder spike: sell high-rated fodder before submitting your own.

Three patterns lose coins reliably: chasing quick rallies (buying after a spike has happened), investing in untradeable-only demand (a card one SBC needed yesterday), and listing without checking the current lowest buy-now — the market moves faster than memory. If a trade needs a story to make sense, the story is the loss.