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CraftedNBA Market
How the market works
CraftedNBA Market is a persistent all-time NBA portfolio game. You buy and sell player shares, build a portfolio over time, earn cash from real NBA outcomes, and compete on live leaderboards.
CraftedNBA Market is a simulated NBA player market built on in-platform cash. No real-money trading or withdrawals are involved.
Persistent
The market stays live over time. There is no broad seasonal reset to wipe everyone back to zero.
Equal start
Everyone begins with the same bankroll, so long-term results come from judgment rather than a head start.
Live pricing
Player prices move as trading activity changes the market’s view of each name.
Real payouts
Season outcomes like MVP, All-NBA, All-Star, and Rookie of the Year can pay cash dividends.
Access
Free users can start with 4 trades. Pro unlocks full participation after that.
Start here
The market in four steps
Start equal
Every manager begins with the same bankroll and enters the same live economy.
Trade players
Buy and sell shares of NBA players based on where you think the market is underrating or overrating them.
Build a book
Your portfolio is your cash plus the current marked value of your holdings.
Compete
Leaderboards track how your portfolio performs against the rest of the market over time.
Trading and pricing
What happens when you buy or sell
Market price
Every player has a live market price. Buys and sells both execute at that price — no markup above or discount below.
Flat 1% fee
Every trade costs 1% of the notional value. That's the only friction on entry and exit.
Price moves with trades
Each buy nudges the price up slightly; each sell nudges it down. The market responds to conviction, not just sentiment.
Rapid flips cost more
Fast reversals on the same player can trigger an extra flip penalty to discourage churn and self-pumping.
Example trade · One-share buy
Market price
$100.00
Shares
1
Trade fee (1%)
$1.00
Total cost
$101.00
All trades execute at the current market price. A flat 1% fee applies to every buy and sell.
The market rewards being right before the crowd — not pumping a price and flipping it immediately.
Inactive prices
Untouched players slowly drift down
A player that nobody is trading is probably not worth holding at full price. Decay keeps the market honest.
7-day grace period
Every newly listed player gets a 7-day window with no decay. New listings aren't penalized for being new.
7 days without a trade → decay begins
Once the grace period is over, if no one buys or sells a player for 7 straight days, the price starts falling at –0.5% per day.
–0.5% every day until action returns
The drop compounds daily. A trade — any trade — resets the drought clock and stops the decay for another 7 days.
Floor: 50% of opening price (min $25)
Prices never fall below half the player's opening price, and never below $25 regardless. Decay stops when the floor is hit.
Example · $100.00 opening price, no trades after listing
Day 1–7
Grace period active
$100.00
Day 15
8 days of decay
$96.07
Day 30
23 days of decay
$89.13
Floor
50% of $100.00 opening
$50.00
Trading the player resets the drought window. One buy or sell stops the clock for another 7 days.
Cash rewards
Dividends pay out from real NBA results
Holding the right players can earn cash dividends when those players hit meaningful season outcomes. These payouts reward real basketball performance, not just market sentiment.
Dividends begin with the 2026–27 NBA season. Positions held now count toward eligibility once payouts go live.
MVP winner
$15
All-NBA 1st
$10
DPOY winner
$10
All-Star
$5
ROY winner
$6
Player of the Month
$2
Safety rails
Designed to reward judgment, not churn
Trade fee
A flat 1% fee on every buy and sell creates enough friction to discourage mindless churn while still letting genuine conviction and player movement matter.
Flip penalty
Rapid buy-then-sell or sell-then-buy reversals on the same player within 24 hours can trigger an extra penalty to reduce self-created price loops.
Price impact
Each trade moves the price slightly in the direction of the trade. The market rewards being early, not just active.
Official NBA recognition
Cash dividend
Per-share payouts when eligible recognition lands (snapshot rules apply).
| Recognition | Cash dividend |
|---|---|
| MVP winner | $15.00 / share |
| All-NBA 1st | $10.00 / share |
| DPOY winner | $10.00 / share |
| All-NBA 2nd | $7.00 / share |
| MVP 2nd | $7.00 / share |
| MIP winner | $6.00 / share |
| ROY winner | $6.00 / share |
| All-Defensive 1st | $5.00 / share |
| All-NBA 3rd | $5.00 / share |
| All-Star | $5.00 / share |
| DPOY 2nd | $5.00 / share |
| MVP 3rd | $5.00 / share |
| All-Rookie 1st | $4.00 / share |
| All-Defensive 2nd | $3.00 / share |
| DPOY 3rd | $3.00 / share |
| MIP 2nd | $3.00 / share |
| MVP 4th–5th | $3.00 / share |
| ROY 2nd | $3.00 / share |
| All-Rookie 2nd | $2.00 / share |
| MIP 3rd | $2.00 / share |
| Player of the Month | $2.00 / share |
| ROY 3rd | $2.00 / share |
| Player of the Week | $1.00 / share |
End of season · Model dividend
WARP cash dividend
Besides the official NBA recognition payouts above, the market can pay a separate end-of-season cash dividend per share based on each player’s Crafted WARP and how much they actually played. Think of it as a model-driven reward for value and minutes, not a league ballot.
At the end of the season, the WARP dividend per share is:
(WARP + 2.15) × minutes played × 0.0005102 — per share.
In plain terms:
- Start with the player’s WARP.
- Add 2.15.
- Multiply by that player’s total minutes played for the season.
- Multiply that result by 0.0005102.
The result is the end-of-year WARP cash dividend per share for that player.
The offset (2.15) and scale factor (0.0005102) are tuning constants and may change as we balance payouts with the rest of the economy; treat them as the working model, not an immutable promise.
Bottom line
The market is simple to start and deep enough to matter
Start with the board, make a few trades, and learn how prices, payouts, and portfolio value work together. The best portfolios come from being early on player value and managing your positions over time.