Quick Start — Your First Arena
This guide walks you through a complete round of fantasy football and cricket trading on TradeStars. By the end, you’ll understand the full loop: enter, trade, score, win.
Step 1: Pick a League and Enter
Open TradeStars and choose a sport — Football or Cricket (T20). You’ll see the active arenas organized by league (e.g. Premier League, IPL).
Tap Enter Arena and compete for the arena’s prize or enter for free to practice. You now have:
- A portfolio with 1,000 virtual credits
- Access to every player in that arenas’s fixtures this round
- A spot on the leaderboard
Your entry fee goes into the prize pool. Your 1,000 credits are virtual — used only for trading player shares within this arena.
Step 2: Build Your Starting Portfolio
Before the first matches kick off, browse the player market. Every player has a price based on their projected fantasy output for the round.
Your goal: spend your 1,000 credits on players you think will score the most fantasy points.
A few things to consider:
- Star players cost more — Haaland might be 55 credits, a rotation defender might be 15. Higher price = fewer shares per credit.
- Spread your credits — buying 5-8 players gives you diversified exposure. Going all-in on one player is high risk.
- Prices move with demand — if everyone is buying Salah, his price rises. Getting in early means cheaper shares.
Example starting portfolio (Football):
| Player | Price | Credits Spent | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haaland | 55 cr | 200 cr | ~3.6 shares |
| Salah | 50 cr | 180 cr | ~3.6 shares |
| Saka | 38 cr | 150 cr | ~3.9 shares |
| Palmer | 35 cr | 140 cr | ~4.0 shares |
| Virgil van Dijk | 25 cr | 120 cr | ~4.8 shares |
| Onana (GK) | 18 cr | 100 cr | ~5.5 shares |
| Remaining credits | — | 110 cr | — |
Keep some credits in reserve for mid-week opportunities.
Example starting portfolio (Cricket T20):
| Player | Role | Credits Spent | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top-order batter | BAT | 220 cr | Early overs and milestone upside |
| Wicketkeeper-batter | WK | 180 cr | Dual scoring paths from batting and catches |
| All-rounder | ALL | 190 cr | Can score with both bat and ball |
| Death bowler | BOW | 170 cr | Wicket upside at the end of the innings |
| Opening bowler | BOW | 130 cr | New-ball wicket chance |
| Remaining credits | — | 110 cr | Held back for live T20 rotation |
In cricket trading, holding back credits is useful when you expect a second-innings swing or want to rotate from batters into bowlers during the week.
Step 3: Watch Matches, Trade Live, and Build Score
Trading stays open during live matches too. You can buy and sell any time, while fantasy points still come from real match actions:
- Goals, assists, clean sheets (Football)
- Runs, wickets, catches (Cricket)
Your leaderboard score updates when official stats refresh. During live matches, trades start affecting score on the next refresh.
Step 4: Recycle Credits Through the Round
This is where active management wins. As matches evolve, you always have a decision:
Sell — free up credits to reinvest in players with upcoming fixtures.
Hold — if that player has another match this week, keep the shares to earn more points.
Example: It’s Tuesday night. Liverpool just beat Arsenal 2-1 and Salah earned 14 fantasy points. His match is done for the week. You sell your Salah shares, recovering ~170 credits (minus 1% spread). Those points already credited to your position stay in your score.
Now you use those 170 credits to buy Foden before Man City’s Thursday match. If Foden delivers, you’ve turned one player’s output into two — compounding your score.
Cricket example: Your IPL batter finishes on 68 runs and his shares jump after the innings break. You sell part of the position, lock in the points already earned, and rotate those credits into a death bowler defending the target. If the bowler takes 2 wickets, you compound the same capital across both innings.
This recycle loop — buy → earn points → sell/trim → reinvest — is the core skill in TradeStars. The more efficiently you rotate credits through fixture windows, the higher your total score.
Step 5: Manage Through the Week
A typical week might look like this:
| Day | Action |
|---|---|
| Monday | Enter arena, build starting portfolio |
| Tuesday | Matches play. After they finish, sell completed players, buy into Wednesday fixtures |
| Wednesday–Thursday | More matches. Keep recycling credits into upcoming games |
| Friday–Saturday | Final fixtures. Go aggressive — concentrate remaining credits on your best picks |
| Sunday | Arena finalizes. Scores lock, payouts distribute |
Don’t forget about your positions. If you hold shares in a player for more than 48 hours without trading, that player’s score contribution takes a 5% hit (inactivity penalty). Active managers who recycle after matches rarely hit this.
Step 6: Collect Your Payout
Once all fixtures are settled, the leaderboard is finalized. The top 3 portfolios split the prize pool:
| Place | Share |
|---|---|
| 1st | 50% |
| 2nd | 30% |
| 3rd | 20% |
Payouts are distributed automatically. Winner amounts are paid in whole USDC, and the leaderboard shows the exact payout for each place.
Example: 100 people enter the arena. Prize pool = 900 USDC. First place wins 450 USDC, second gets 270, third gets 180.
Pro Tips for Your First Week
- Don’t spend all your credits on day one. Keep 10-20% in reserve for mid-week opportunities — injuries, surprise lineups, or breakout performers.
- Sell players whose fixtures are done. Credits sitting in finished matches earn you nothing. Recycle them.
- Check the fixture calendar. Know which matches are coming and plan your buys accordingly.
- Watch price movements. If a player’s price has jumped 50% above their floor, the market might be overvaluing them. Look for underpriced alternatives.
- Multiple entries = multiple strategies. If you’re unsure, enter twice: one conservative portfolio spread across many players, one aggressive portfolio concentrated on a few high-conviction picks.
- In cricket, plan around innings flow. Batters often peak in value after they finish batting, while bowlers can become strong second-innings buys when defending a total.
Ready?
You know enough to compete. Enter an arena and start trading.
For deeper mechanics, explore:
- Player Pricing — how share prices move
- Trading During Live Matches — live trading rules and credit recycling
- Scoring Rules — full scoring tables for both sports