Glossary
Every StarTrader term, defined
From StarCoins to cost basis, the language of the StarTrader market in plain English.
- StarCoins (SC)
- StarTrader's in-platform virtual currency. Used to buy player shares and ETFs, fund accounts, and unlock features. StarCoins can be earned or purchased but cannot be converted back to cash.Learn more
- Player share
- Fractional ownership in the performance of a real athlete. A player's share price rises and falls based on on-field performance, news, and market demand.Learn more
- Share price
- The current market value of a single share of a player, reflecting how the market values their current and projected performance. It changes continuously.Learn more
- Float
- The fixed number of shares available for a given player. Smaller floats are more volatile, a small amount of trading moves the price a lot, while large floats behave more like stable blue-chip stocks.Learn more
- ETF
- A bundled position that gives exposure to a whole group at once, an entire team, a position group, or a division, instead of a single player. Available on all tiers.Learn more
- IPO (Initial Player Offering)
- Coming soon (not yet live). The planned debut of a new player on the platform, such as a rookie or a mid-season trade acquisition. An IPO will let traders buy shares before the market has fully priced the player. Pro will get standard access; Elite will get priority.Learn more
- Market order
- An order that executes immediately at the current market price. Available on all tiers.Learn more
- Limit order
- An order to buy or sell only at a specified price or better. It will not fill unless the market reaches your target. Available to Pro and Elite.Learn more
- Maker privileges
- An Elite-only feature allowing resting orders that add liquidity to the market, giving execution advantages on large positions and in thin markets.Learn more
- Trade fee
- The percentage charged on a trade. Free pays 1.0%, Plus pays 0.5%, and Pro and Elite pay 0%.Learn more
- Cost basis
- The original price paid for a position, used to calculate taxable gain when it is sold. Transferred positions carry the original seller's cost basis.Learn more
- Short-term rate
- The higher tax rate applied to gains on positions held under 30 days: 30% (Free and Plus), 20% (Pro), 10% (Elite).Learn more
- Long-term rate
- The lower tax rate applied to gains on positions held 30 days or more: 15% (Free and Plus), 10% (Pro), 5% (Elite), roughly half the short-term rate.Learn more
- Rolling 12-month average rate
- Your effective tax rate, calculated as a weighted average of your subscription history over the past year. It prevents gaming the system by briefly upgrading before selling.Learn more
- Tax Day
- The day accumulated tax liability settles. Single-sport leagues default to the day after the championship; multi-sport and continuous leagues have commissioner-set dates.Learn more
- Accrued tax liability
- Your running tally of unpaid taxes shown on your dashboard. If it exceeds your StarCoin balance on Tax Day, your balance goes to zero until you add more.Learn more
- Commissioner
- The creator and administrator of a league. Commissioners set tax rates, prize distribution, season structure, and league size (max members depends on their tier).Learn more
- League prize pot
- A pool funded when a commissioner sets the league tax rate above the platform baseline. The excess flows into the pot, distributed to top finishers per the commissioner's settings.Learn more
- Deferred tax
- When a commissioner sets the league rate below baseline, the difference is not forgiven but deferred, it accrues as a liability that settles on Tax Day.Learn more
- In-kind transfer
- When a league payout moves holdings between members, player positions transfer directly first, without forced selling, preserving value and avoiding market impact.Learn more
- LIFO (Last In, First Out)
- The liquidation order used only when positions must be sold to complete a transfer: largest unrealized losses first, then the most recently acquired gains.Learn more
- Head-to-head league
- A league format where each member faces a different opponent every week, fantasy-style, instead of competing on a single season-long leaderboard.Learn more
- Cumulative league
- A league format with no weekly matchups. Everyone competes on a single running leaderboard for the whole season, and the standings at season's end decide the result.Learn more
- All-play scoring
- An optional head-to-head league setting that compares every member against the entire league each week, used as a tiebreaker, as the primary scoring method, or against the league median.Learn more
- Scoring mode
- What counts as a member's score in a league: yield (from player performance, the default and the closest feel to classic fantasy scoring), investment (portfolio value alone), or total return (a commissioner-set blend of both).Learn more
- Payout type
- How a league's holdings move at the end of a season: winner takes all, winner percentage, top N split, everyone keeps their own holdings, threshold reset, or manual close.Learn more
- Watchlist
- A saved list of players to monitor, with price alerts. Free has none; Pro gets up to 5; Elite gets unlimited with advanced alert triggers.Learn more
- Daily login streak
- A StarCoin bonus that grows with consecutive daily logins. Pro earns at 1.5×, Elite at 2×. Missing a day resets the streak.Learn more
- Wallet
- Your personal StarCoin balance, from which you fund individual trading accounts and league accounts. Personal accounts can return coins to the wallet any time; league accounts are locked until the season ends.Learn more
- Price source (Dealer / Hybrid / Market-driven)
- Who currently sets a player's price. Dealer: StarTrader's fair-value model sets it (low ownership, or trader-to-trader trading not enabled for that player). Hybrid: the house value and real trader prices blend together as ownership grows. Market-driven: for heavily-owned players, the prices traders agree on do most of the pricing. A player moves through these modes as more of its shares are owned.Learn more
- House backstop
- StarTrader's standing guarantee to fill your order at the quote when no other trader is on the other side, so you can always buy and always sell a player regardless of how thin the order book is.Learn more
- Buyout floor
- The guaranteed price at which the house will buy a player's shares back from you. It is dynamic: if the player's real market price falls, the floor follows it down (it never sits above what the player is actually trading at). It protects you from having no buyer, not from a genuine decline in value.Learn more
Want the full picture?
The Learn hub walks through how every part of StarTrader works.