After a first opinion on the interest of investing on Sorare or not, I propose this time to give you a more complete feedback on Sorare after 3 months on the game. The objective is to draw a critical and realistic picture of my initial investment: 2 500€. Successes, failures and ambitions for the future, you will know everything. I wish you a good reading!
From a simple discovery to an investment project
Discovering Sorare
Originally, I hadn’t really planned to invest in crypto-currencies, let alone Sorare. Indeed, I had resisted the idea of getting into crypto-currencies, despite the certainties of friends. The risks were very high, and the volatility was such that a simple tweet could strongly and permanently affect a crypto-currency. Nothing has changed, you may say. That’s right, but on my side I was able to earn some money to do my own experiments.
This time, the subject of Sorare came from the family side. Intrigued by the concept, I decided to go ahead and test the service. The initial idea was simple: win 5 auctions to get the referral rewards and share the winnings with my referral.
The plan was perfect, flawless (they all are!). Unless …
NFT madness
Unless, like all others, I jump blindly into the experiment right in the middle of the frenzy around NFTs. In parallel to Sorare’s fundraising, Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, sold his very first tweet and Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million. It didn’t take much more than that to get several weeks of completely irrational madness. So much so that even the Pringles potato chip brand released an NFT with a CryptoCrisp flavor. Incredible.
Sorare was no exception to this madness, and cards that used to be sold for less than 0.01 ETH a few months ago were now sold for more than 0.1 or 0.2 ETH. With everyone wanting a piece of the action, winning an auction became difficult and many of us, myself included, were overpaying for cards at that time. The 1 000€ initially envisaged quickly became 2 000€.
Disappointment and revision of ambitions
Once the 5 auctions were won, it was time to find out about our referral rewards. After all, we have seen players win a rare card of the goalkeeper Alisson, valued at 1.7 ETH, as a referral reward. What a disappointment! On my side, I got Matt LaGrassa, valued at 0.005 ETH (if anyone wants it). My sponsor did not much better: Joseph Mora, valued at 0.009 ETH. Two dreams shattered on the altar of reality! Well, I’m being a bit dramatic, it’s true. But still, not cool! We could probably have done worse, but there was still plenty of room to do better!
One thing is for sure: the hype was over by then, and the question was what to do next. Continue or sell and get out right away? I decided to continue the adventure and turn this (totally failed!) discovery goal into an investment project.
What are the results?
The current value of cards
While writing this feedback on Sorare, I wondered if it was relevant to show an evolution of the average price of the cards in my gallery. Then I realized that it didn’t really show any interesting information to analyze other than what we already knew: that I entered at the top of the wave and that the wave went down in the meantime. Presenting a valuation at a given moment is not very meaningful, especially since the players’ odds can change extremely quickly. For example, Lee Seung-Gi traded at 0.009 ETH in the last few days when at the end of April he was traded at 0.110 ETH.
Nevertheless, if we look at the amounts in volume only, SorareData values my gallery at 0.900 ETH against an initial investment of 1.442 ETH (-37%). A significant theoretical devaluation since March, which is partly explained by a significant drop in demand over the period (division by three of users, volumes and transactions over the period). Should we be alarmist? I don’t think so, as Sorare’s growth potential is so important.
Performance of purchase / resale
The problem with buying at the top is that it’s hard to make profits when the market is falling apart. As a result, since I started, I’ve been following the turtle strategy, and I’m waiting for the storm to pass, waiting for better days.
I still managed to make small profits (+0.024 ETH) on a few players, and to sell Danilo d’Ambrosio and Matteo Darmian right before their respective prices collapsed.
| Player | Role | Rarity | Buy | Sell | + / – | ROI |
| Cristhian Paredes | Midfielder | Rare | 0,070 | 0,085 | 0,015 | 21,43% |
| Danilo D’Ambrosio | Defender | Rare | 0,033 | 0,033 | 0,000 | 0,00% |
| Malo Gusto | Defender | Rare | 0,065 | 0,070 | 0,005 | 7,69% |
| Malo Gusto | Defender | Rare | 0,051 | 0,058 | 0,007 | 13,73% |
| Matteo Darmian | Defender | Rare | 0,057 | 0,054 | – 0,003 | -5,26% |
Performance in So5
I started the So5 mode on game week #152. As of this writing, we are on game week #174. I have only been able to field a major 5 on 17 of the 22 game weeks.
Among these 17 times, I won 8 times ether rewards, for a total of 0.090 ETH. Relatively average, even disappointing, performances over the period, mostly explained by several players who went from being a starter to a substitute, putting a strain on my weekly performances.
Aging of my gallery
On the good news side, I have a relatively young team. Only 4 players among my 23 cards are 30 years old or more. No worries on this side for the next 2 or 3 years.
My general opinion
Profitability in spite of everything
All gains added (So5 + resales), this makes a total gain of 0.114 ETH over the last 3 months. For an initial investment of 1.442 ETH, these 0.114 ETH represent a profitability of 7.9% over 3 months. Considering the very mediocre performances, I can reasonably foresee better days when the European championships resume next July/August. Rather profitable, despite a complicated start.
Lessons
After 3 months on the game, I have already learned several important lessons:
- In a buy and sell model, you have to sell as soon as possible when a small profit is possible. The winds change quickly, and some players can quickly go back to anonymity. I personally experienced this with Lee Seung-Gi.
- When a price is “off market“, always look for where you’re getting screwed. Even if the deal may have been real and you missed it. You are more likely to get a bad deal than a great deal. You might end up like me with a card from a goalkeeper with no club, useless, because he punched his wife and is now banned from his league. Good luck getting rid of it afterwards.
- Opt for consistency over explosiveness of players.
- Sorare is a long game, where weeks can go by without much happening. Accept to take your time, it’s the best way to avoid making wrong choices.
Ambitions
My next objectives in the coming months will be the following:
- Rationalize my gallery and get rid, when possible, of cards that were overpaid at the start. And then buy them back later, at more affordable prices.
- Double each position by acquiring players in alternate leagues to reduce game weeks without fielding a team.
- Cashing in on young players acquired in MLS.
This concludes this feedback on Sorare, and I hope it has interested you. Feel free to send me your comments and your own feedback on Sorare.
Next progress report in September, for the 6 months.
Until then, see you in the next article to translate the 2nd opus of the series The Beautiful Data #2: CERV.
See you soon,
