In FIFA 18 Ultimate Team, the Team of the Season (TOTS) is coming soon. We explain why you should sell your players in the following.
The market in FUT traditionally fluctuates strongly and is extremely influenced by events. Special teams like the “Team of the Season” or the “Team of the Tournaments – Knockout Stage” (TOTKS) have a particularly significant impact.
We explain why you should sell your team as soon as possible and what you need to know about the TOTS market crash.
Attention: The following information is based on experiences from previous FIFA titles. Market behavior can never be predicted exactly and can be manipulated by EA with events or SBCs differently than expected. Therefore, all tips should be taken with caution and executed at your own risk.
The “Team of the Season” market crash
A market crash means roughly that the majority of player cards lose significant value over a short period. Therefore, it makes sense to have as little wealth in cards and as much in coins as possible at this time.
Why does a market crash occur for the Team of the Season?
With the “Team of the Season,” many new, very strong cards come into the Ultimate Team mode. Therefore, many players buy promo packs with FIFA Points or save their packs until the TOTS.
Due to the high number of opened packs, there is an oversupply of players. At the same time, the demand for normal gold players decreases because many gamers want to incorporate TOTS cards into their team.
Increased supply and decreasing demand together lead to the extreme price drop of many FUT cards during the “Team of the Season.”
Why should I sell my players right now?
If the market crash comes only at the TOTS release – which is expected on April 27 – why sell your players for coins right now?
The reason for this lies mainly in the “YouTube hype.” Once many FIFA streamers and YouTubers release videos predicting the market crash and advising selling the cards, prices drop. The large British YouTubers have particularly severe influence.
When these videos come out, a large part of the fan base sells their players and holds back on buying. This leads to the fact that the crash does not come suddenly at release but gradually builds up before the TOTS.
Furthermore, it is assumed that the “Team of the Tournaments – Knockout Stage” will be released before the TOTS. A possible release of the “Team of the Knockout Stage” (TOTKS) is after the quarter or semi-finals of the Champions League. Many players also pull packs for this, leading to a smaller market crash.
Which players should I sell, which to keep?
Not all players are worth selling. Gold players who are close to the discard price, meaning under 1000 coins, will logically not drop much further.
High-rated players who are rarely used and have chances for a TOTS card likely will not lose value. Examples are Toni Kroos or David Silva.
For gold cards with a rating of 83 or 84, which are mainly needed for SBCs, it is hard to make a prediction. They are the most unstable of all cards.
The biggest value losses are made by cards that are popular and often played. These include high-rated players with a high price or cards in the lower 80s that cost significantly more than most cards of their rating. Examples of the latter include Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, or Anthony Martial. For these players, it is probably worth selling soon to avoid a loss.
In addition, you should naturally keep your untradeable cards. From these, you can put together a team for the transition period, so you can continue to play matches. Affordable but still strong players can be used as a supplement.
FUT 17: Cristiano Ronaldo lost half of his market value for the TOTS
The market crash can be illustrated particularly clearly by examples from FIFA 17 Ultimate Team. The first TOTS came on May 12, and the last – the Ultimate TOTS – on June 23.
The graph also clearly shows the crash caused by the “Team of the Knockout Stage” at the end of April.
We now compare three points in time: The price one month before the TOTS, the price after May 12, and after June 23.
Player/Time | Mid-April | First TOTS | Last TOTS |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 1,600,000 | 960,000 | 800,000 |
| Lionel Messi | 800,000 | 500,000 | 400,000 |
| Neymar | 480,000 | 240,000 | 210,000 |
| Jerome Boateng | 200,000 | 100,000 | 70,000 |
| Andres Iniesta | 40,000 | 25,000 | 17,000 |
| Marco Reus | 100,000 | 60,000 | 40,000 |
| Arturo Vidal | 130,000 | 70,000 | 45,000 |
| David Alaba | 95,000 | 50,000 | 30,000 |
| Gareth Bale | 410,000 | 200,000 | 140,000 |
| Manuel Neuer | 190,000 | 100,000 | 75,000 |
As you can see, especially cards that are frequently played drop significantly. But even an Andres Iniesta – mainly SBC fodder – went down in price because he did not receive a TOTS card.
In short: If you value your FUT assets, sell soon and buy back cheaper at a later time! If you are just playing “just for fun” and have no ambitions to own an expensive team, you can safely ignore the “TOTS crash.”
If you’re already exchanging your players, why not try a new formation: These 3 formations are used by the pros in FIFA 18!
