Auction Academy · Strategy
How much should you spend on a sealed bid?
Price the improvement to your squad, including the player you must give up. Then check what happens if every bid succeeds. A small bid on a useful starter can be better than a large bid on a name that leaves the same weakness in your team.
Choose the outgoing player first
An Auction League sealed bid pairs one unowned player with a different player you already own. That outgoing player is part of the cost. Before setting an amount, compare the likely role of the incoming player with what you would lose.
In an invented example, an available midfielder would replace an injured reserve who is unlikely to be selected soon. The same midfielder could be a poor purchase for a manager who must release a reliable starter. The free agent has not changed. The improvement has.
Work through the whole bid set
Do not treat several submitted bids as an ordered shopping list. Auction League has no personal priority order or maximum-wins setting for a bid set. The system checks a manager's provisional wins together. If that set is illegal, all of that manager's current provisional wins pass to the next bidders before resolution repeats.
For example, two proposed arrivals from the same club might each fit your limit alone but breach it together. Checking each row separately would miss the problem. Review the resulting squad, club counts and available money as a complete set before submitting.
Choose a reserve for a reason
A reserve is useful when it protects a future need. It is less useful when you keep passing on improvements because something better might eventually appear. Write down what the reserve is for: an uncertain goalkeeper place, a long injury or a position where your league has few unowned options.
In this invented planning example, you have £30m available and decide to retain £12m for a known squad concern. That leaves up to £18m for the current round before any other applicable costs and constraints. It does not mean that an £18m bid is justified. The improvement still needs to be worth buying.
Use the deadline and tie rules that exist here
Bids use £0.5m increments and can be £0. Equal bids are resolved using the round's stored random tie ranks, with the lower rank winning. Bidding £6.01m to beat a round number is therefore not an available tactic.
Check the deadline shown in your league and submit with time to review the saved bid set. Another league's Thursday window is not your deadline. Do not assume that leaving a form open has saved it.
Common questions
Can I bid for several alternatives and choose one afterwards?
No. Treat every submitted bid as a purchase that could succeed under the round's rules. There is no personal priority list or maximum-wins setting.
Can I use a Fantrax FAB strategy unchanged?
No. Check the available balance, outgoing-player requirement, bid increments and combined squad checks. Do not assume FAB trading or immediate free-agent pickup is available.
Put the plan into practice
Read six real auction prices from our founding league.
Ready to bring your group? Run your auction, then enter the final squads in the app.
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