With actual football back in play, we’re seeing some pretty wild swings across the Index. The market is incredibly volatile at the moment with some huge trading volumes going through as traders try to jump on the next big IPD or PB winners. And, after a long summer of MB, it’s easy to forget just how much of a lottery PB can be.

This is a testing time for those of us who made our PB choices a few weeks ago and don’t have much left in the bank, especially as only two of the five PB leagues have kicked off so far. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been struggling with FOMO over the last couple of days and has hovered over the ‘sell’ button on multiple occasions.

Unlike some traders, I’ve mostly resisted actually selling. The trouble with moments like this is it pushes you to act quickly to raise funds – often leading you to instant sell potentially decent holds, eating into any profits. And even if you manage to sell players via the market, the risk is that you end up only catching the top of the rise, at the point while other traders are already moving onto the next target. The smart play – obviously – is to be in at the beginning.

So this is where having a bit of patience is key. The people who had the best opening weekend were those who had already picked the winners. If you’ve done your research and picked your PB choices early, have faith that they will rise at some point, even if they aren’t the ones rising today.

Here’s how my weekend played out – I was kicking myself not to have bought into Osimhen, Haland (both on my watchlist) and Willock (had him a couple of months ago but sold too early). Most of my port was stagnating and I wasn’t in the mix for much in the way of dividends. All I wanted to do was sell up half my port and put the money into the rising players. I was frustrated.

And now today – my port is a nice sea of green with big rises on the likes of Maguire, Thiago, Sancho, Sterling, Suso and Politano. I’ve got MB coming tonight. I’ll also have plenty of players starting their first competitive games this coming weekend so there is a lot to look forward to.

Patience is hard but it’s worth it. FI is a long game and over-trading can be a killer. Do your research, keep evaluating your holds and be patient.