Waiver Wire ExchangeWaiver Wire Exchange

How the Waiver Wire Exchange Works

The Waiver Wire Exchange (WWX) is a season-long fantasy stock market where NFL players are priced like stocks. You buy shares with virtual capital and your portfolio value rises or falls based on how those players perform each week.Instead of drafting a fixed roster, you trade freely every week, growing your portfolio from opening bell to the championship.

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Scoring

Share prices, weekly settlement & portfolio value

Every player in the market has a share price derived from their projected fantasy output. In a Live-season league, that's the same projection engine behind Rankings and the Assistant Coach — adjusted for that week's matchup (opponent strength, game script, weather) — run through the Exchange's own pricing engine, tuned specifically for weekly settlement. Practice (historical replay) leagues price off the season's actual results instead, since there's no live matchup context to price in for a past season.

Share prices

Each player's price reflects their projected performance for that week — including their matchup — so a plus opponent or a tough one moves the price before kickoff, not just after. Prices reset each week based on the latest projection, so the market always reflects current conditions.

Weekly settlement

After Sunday's games, every position settles. Each player's price updates based on their actual fantasy performance that week — your share count never changes. Beat the projection and the price (and your position) appreciates; miss it and it loses value.

Portfolio value

Your score is the total dollar value of your portfolio at any moment: cash on hand plus the market value of all your holdings. Grow it faster than everyone else and you win the league.

Trading window

The WaiverWire Window

Trading opens every Tuesday after settlement and stays open through gametime each week. That window is your shot to react to injury news, weather, and matchup changes before kickoff locks the market.

Tuesday
Window opens

Last week settles; new prices post. Buy, sell, or hold.

Wed to Sat
Active market

React to news, injuries, and matchups as they develop.

Gametime
Window closes

Trading locks. Your portfolio is set for the week.

Glossary

Every stat and badge, explained

The Market and Portfolio tabs pack a lot of info into a small space. Here's what each label, badge, and tooltip actually means — hover any of them in the app for a quick reminder, or come back to this page for the full version.

Price tier & upside multiplier — e.g. “Starter 2×”

Every player sits in one of four price tiers, cheapest to priciest: Sleeper → Upside → Starter → Elite. The tier name is just a label for roughly how expensive that player's shares are.

The number next to it (like 2× or 2.5×) is that player's upside cap — the most a share's value can multiply by in one huge week. Cheap, lower-tier players get a bigger cap so a breakout game can really pay off; expensive Elite players move more steadily, since a big week is already priced in. There's no cap the other way — a bad week can still cost you more than the multiplier would suggest.

Elite is deliberately the rarest tier — a share has to sustain a huge run to get there, so don't be surprised if you don't see it inside a single season. It's more common in a full live-season league that keeps compounding week over week.

Ownership — “Own %”, “flat”, “X long”

Own % is the share of everyone in your league currently holding that player long (an open Buy position) right now.

Under it, +2pp / -2pp is how much that percentage moved since last week (“pp” = percentage points). If nothing changed, you'll see flat instead — no net buying or selling pressure on that player week over week.

“3 long” (or “3 long · 1 short” in leagues with shorting on) is a headcount: how many different league members hold a position in that player, not how many shares. One manager could own several shares and would still only count once here.

Buy (long) vs. Short

Buy puts you long — you're betting the player beats their weekly projection. If they do, your shares are worth more after settlement.

Short is the mirror bet: you're wagering they miss their projection. Shorting only appears if your commissioner enabled it, and it borrows against your buying power (margin), so losses can run further than a normal Buy. If a price moves hard against your short, the league automatically buys back just enough of it at settlement to keep your cash covering the position — a margin call, same as a real brokerage.

Price trend — under the Price column

new — this player has no price history yet (just entered the market).

flat — this week's opening price is essentially unchanged from last week's.

▲ X% / ▼ X% — how much the price moved week over week as projections were refreshed.

House Book

What the House Book is, and how it works

The House Book is a ready-made portfolio for the current week, built by the app itself rather than by any one manager. Every member of your league is shown the exact same book — it's the market's own answer to “what would a smart, diversified portfolio look like this week?”

Common mix-up: the House Book isn't built from what your leaguemates are buying or holding — it never looks at anyone's roster. It's computed fresh from that week's market prices and each player's own performance history, the same way for every league. Two members who pick the same risk posture get the same players and weights; only the dollar amounts differ, scaled to each person's own cash.

Think of it like an index fund

Instead of hand-picking every share yourself, the House Book spreads a budget across the whole market for you, sized by how much conviction the model has in each player. It weighs projected points against how volatile each player has been recently, aiming for the best return for the amount of risk taken — the same trade-off a real portfolio manager balances.

Pick a risk posture

Protect Floor spreads across more, smaller positions for a steadier week. Balanced is the default middle ground. Chase Ceiling concentrates into fewer, higher-upside names for a shot at a much bigger week — with bigger swings if it doesn't hit.

Same book for everyone — that's the point

Because every manager sees the identical book, copying it verbatim just makes you average — it's “the chalk,” not a secret edge. The winning move is deciding where you disagree with the house: fading a pick you think is overrated, or doubling down on one you think it's underweighting.

Preview first, nothing trades automatically

Choose a posture and click “Show the house book” to see the exact players, weights, dollars, and share counts it would buy with your current cash. It's just a preview until you click “Copy the house book” — until then, inspect it, use it as a starting point, or ignore it entirely.

FAQ

Common questions

Do I need a player from each position?
No — you can allocate your capital however you want. All-RBs? Fine. Heavy on WRs? Go for it. There's no positional requirement, so your portfolio should reflect your conviction, not a mandated lineup slot.
Can I keep players week to week?
Yes, like holding a stock for long-term upside. If you believe in a player's trajectory for the season, you don't have to sell. Players you hold carry into the next week at that week's opening price.
Can I build a new portfolio each week?
Yes, during the WaiverWire Window (Tuesday through gametime). You can liquidate your entire portfolio, reinvest in new players, or make targeted moves. There's no penalty for turning over your holdings — the market is always open during the window.
Do I have to invest all my cash each week?
No. Uninvested cash just sits idle, neither gaining nor losing value. Sometimes holding cash is the right move — especially heading into a bye-heavy week or when you're waiting for the right opportunity.
Can my team run out of money?
Yes. If your holdings lose enough value through poor player performance, your portfolio value can drop significantly. That's the risk side of the game — just like a real portfolio, bad picks have real consequences.
Are there transaction fees when buying or selling?
No. There are no commissions, spreads, or transaction fees. Every dollar you have is available to invest, and every sale returns 100% of the position's current value.
Is there a league size limit?
No. Because multiple managers can hold the same player simultaneously (unlike traditional fantasy), there's no cap on how many people can be in a league. More participants means more competition, more market dynamics, and more fun — not roster conflicts.
Can multiple people own the same player?
Yes — and this is what makes WWX different. Two managers can both hold Derrick Henry shares. If he scores 30 points, both portfolios benefit. The competition is about building the highest-value portfolio overall, not blocking your opponents from specific players.
What happens on bye weeks?
No gain or loss, like holding uninvested cash. A player on bye earns 0 actual points that week, which means your share count doesn't change — but neither does it drop. You might want to sell and redeploy that capital into active players during the trading window.
Does a player's price move during the week, or is it set once?
In a Live-season league, a player's projection — and price — can update a couple of times through the week as his practice-report status firms up (or clears), so the market keeps pricing in the latest news ahead of kickoff. In a Practice (historical replay) league, prices post once when that week opens and hold steady through settlement, since there's no real-time news to price in for a past season. "Intraday trading" (a commissioner setting) controls whether trades can be placed while a game is live; it doesn't change what price you're trading at. With intraday trading off, a Live league only locks trading on a given player while HIS own game is actually kicking off — not your whole roster just because someone else is playing. A Practice league locks the whole market during any real, currently-live NFL window instead, since there's no real game tied to any specific player in a replay.

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