How to trade FIFA 21 meta cards and make more FUT coins

Nate Searl
FIFA 21 trading image

While there are plenty of tricks to get coins on the FIFA 21 Ultimate Team transfer market, trading meta cards is one of the best. Here’s how you can profit fast with this method.

While players like Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Cristiano Ronaldo dominate the upper echelons of play in FIFA 21, not everyone can afford them. There are plenty of popular meta cards that aren’t quite as expensive, like Adama Traore and Rodrigo, and you can profit off of them to build up your club’s net worth.

These budget meta cards are constantly fluctuating in value, and it’s actually quite predictable in terms of when their values go up and down. You can turn a big profit by knowing how to get these cards cheap and sell them for more.

Here’s the best way to do it.

Jesus man city fifa 21
Gabriel Jesus is one example of a cheap meta card in FIFA 21. Fast and effective.

FIFA 21 meta trading guide

Identifying FIFA 21 meta cards

It’s important to say, right off the bat, that the meta in FIFA is an ever-changing beast. You might think you know the cards people are using one week, but the next that may just shift and you don’t want to end up with loads of cards that you can’t get rid of.

A great example of a market dip would be Richarlison. Almost every streamer was playing with him at the beginning of the game, but quickly he was replaced by a flurry of special Premier League cards in the meta, and his value soon plummeted.

At the time of writing, good players to buy for trading would be the likes of Rodrigo, Adama Traore, Gabriel Jesus, Nelson Semedo, and Alex Telles. Though, those players are not set in stone. Next week, they could be completely different, but fast and cheap cards usually do retain their value – especially if they have a good weak foot.

Cards that are valued 50k and below, but you regularly see in people’s teams, are a great starting point.

How to snipe cards

The best way to find the value of these cards is to check them out on the market. Let’s take Gabriel Jesus, for example. The majority of his cards go for around 12,500 on Xbox One at the time of writing. If you change the “max buy now price” filter to around 11,000 coins, you can find people who are trying to sell the card quickly for cheaper.

When buying a card at a cheaper price, you should consider other factors as well. Does the card have a valuable chemistry style, like Hunter on Jesus? Does the card have very few contracts? These factors can both positively and negatively impact the value of the card – even slightly.

Buying a few of these cards at sniped prices is the ideal scenario, then take to the market. Here’s our guide on how to snipe in FIFA 21, for more tips.

Relisting the cards

When relisting these cards, price them slightly higher than the average value. You need to consider tax too, as on the FIFA 21 transfer market, all sales are taxed at 5%. This means you should sell your Jesus for at least 12,000 to turn a reasonable profit — or hold onto them for his price to go up later in the week.

The best days to sell these players are in the run up to the FUT Champions Weekend League, in most cases.

There is absolutely no guarantee you’re going to pick up the card that explodes into higher value every time, but that risk is a part of trading in this way. There’s then two choices after sniping a player, (1) sell them right away for profit, or (2) hold onto them and hope their price increases further. If it goes up and you have 10 of these cards, you’re going to be in a really good position.

FIFA 21 jesus trading
Then, you can relist the player for a higher value.

Now, Jesus is a fairly cheap example, but for those with a bigger budget somebody like Ousmane Dembele or Marco Llorente might be a better fit. These cards are used by lots of players, even those who have top cards in their team, and that’s when you can see they’re part of the meta.

What happens next?

Rodrigo FIFA 21
Rodrigo is an example of a meta card we’ve seen in FIFA 21, though his price has fell off since the start of the game.

Be patient, because there’s a solid chance that your 5,000 Rodrigo won’t instantly resell. This is where the market comes into play. Card values are constantly fluctuating, so keep relisting and eventually, the market should go back up. If the market for the card does end up steadily dropping, you will need to drop the price by a bit, but don’t be too quick to do it.

There’s actually a few iOS and Android applications that track market fluctuations, which could be good to download – like FUTAlert. This will ping you a notification when one of your tracked players has boomed in value, and even a slight increase after you have purchased 10-15 of the same card could see you make some handsome returns.

FIFA 21 trading meta cards: Does this work?

Most of the time, this method works well and people will buy the cards, especially if they have the right chemistry style and contracts. If worst comes to worst, you basically only lose the tax coins and sell back at the average value, but the risk is well worth the reward.

Just to round off this FIFA 21 trading meta cards guide, it’s worth noting that this method of bulk buying meta cards and selling them as the Weekend League approaches will not work every time. Anybody telling you different is not being accurate, but what it does do is put you in a position of taking advantage if the meta cards do increase in value.

Each time it happens, you can go ahead and invest in more expensive meta cards and that natural progression of trading to higher values will be possible. It does take time, though, so be patient.


For more FIFA 21 guides and tips, check out our list below:

FUT Champs rewards | FUT Draft rewards | Division Rivals rewards | Squad Battles rewards | FIFA 21 performance trading tips | How to trade meta cards | How to snipe players | FIFA 21 best young players | Ultimate defending guide | Ultimate passing & crossing guide | How to complete FGS Token Swap SBC | FIFA 21 ICONs list | Best Pro Clubs custom tactics | Best custom tactics, formations & player instructions

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About The Author

Nate is a former Dexerto writer and an avid gamer who covered gaming and esports. His favorite franchises are Pokemon and Zelda, but he also loves Overwatch. In his free time, he also enjoys watching sports and playing the guitar.