Everybody loves a dynasty trade that they “win.” However, when you only make trades that “win,” you’ll get fewer beneficial trades done and, in my opinion, hurt your team. Winning trades depends on bad players, which based on the trades posted on this Reddit, there’s a lot of them. Your goal is to not win based on Reddit’s opinion but to win by making your team better for long term success.

Points 1, 4, 5, and 7 are pretty common knowledge, but they can’t be omitted since they are so interconnected with point #2.

1. Team Needs. This is obvious, but you should be looking for teams with the opposite goal of you. If you’re a contender, look to a rebuilder. Trade a young asset for an old stud. And vice versa. These players may be equal value to the market, but they have different values to your team. These are win-win trades. Similarly, you can trade cross positionally. If you see someone is loaded at RB and you’re loaded at WR, you can trade a WR for their RB and your teams become more balanced.

2. Meet in the Middle. You should be looking for fair trades that benefit both teams and that are around fair market value. First, you will inevitably make more trades in your league. The players in your league will know that you’re always open for fair trades that benefit everyone. Once you’ve built a reputation, they’ll trust you more. Being a trusted trade partner cannot be understated. Second, a lot of incremental wins are more in your control than one block buster trade that will turn your team around. Third, by meeting in the middle you see guardrails around acceptable trades. You end up not trading for particular players but for a group of players that end up making your team better, which makes your trades more varied. If you can’t trade for Joe Mixon, try Aaron jones. If you can’t trade for Drake London, trade for Chris Olave. Make the same offers to both owners and you highly increase getting a deal done.

Also, when people feel like they got burned by you, they’ll likely never trade with you again or try to “fleece” you in your next encounter.

1. Feel free to liquidate. You can manufacture trades by trading for picks. If you want a rb that’s young and productive on a rebuilder, but you have an old and productive player, it’s hard to get a deal done. You can trade your old player to a competitor for a pick, then trade picks for a young rb. You often will lose some capital in these trades, but if it increases the long term value, it can be ok.

2. Put together various packages. It’s surprising who your opponents may like. A 3 for 3 might be easier to get done than a player plus a pick for a better player.

3. Know when to walk a way. If you do everything you can to make a fair deal and your trade partner will only make trades that “win”, you have to walk away. Sometimes you’ll lose fair trades. But you should set a limit before you go into negotiations for you max payment price. Their punishment for being unreasonable is no trade, which hurts their team if you’re making a trade that benefits both sides.

4. Framing. This may seem counterintuitive to my whole article, but this negotiating tactic is basically gospel. You should start with a trade that’s lower than your max willingness to pay, but still in the fair range. If you’re willing to pay a player plus a second for a better player, start with offering a player plus two thirds. They likely won’t accept the initial offer, but they’ll be more likely to accept your true offer. Sometimes you may even get lucky.

5. Know player value versus point value. Curtis Samuel is almost a worthless dynasty asset from a trade perspective in comparison to his point value in a deeper dynasty league. He’s old and not a needle mover. Something, something Moneyball. Someone would need to offer me a second for me to move Curtis Samuel, which is above market price. He benefits my team more than two thirds would since I need the points he provides as a last spot flex in a deeper league. Similarly, you should trade players around fair market value, but if a player is worth more on your roster than the market, it may not be the best move to trade them if you’re contending. Conversely, if you have a stud RB and are rebuilding, it might be best to try to liquidate for a young receiver who might not produce now, but will produce in your contending window (Odunze comes to mind).

6. Don’t be afraid to take trades in which you have an edge. Just because you’re paying fair market value, doesn’t mean those players aren’t worth more in 6 months. There are reasons in which week 3 LaPorta is worth less than end of season LaPorta. There’s more data and he’s inherently less risky. Feel free to build in some risk with your trades, but don’t discount that risk by overpaying. You can easily end up with a Dameon Pierce or Sammy Watkins when you overpay.

I am a somewhat new dynasty player, but I don’t think most of these items are even controversial. One risk that I would say is that if you overpay by 1-5% each trade, you could find your team looking much worse over time by making many trades. The goal is to improve your team by ~5% each trade.