Lets use Leta as an example.

His cost is 9 points. His expected point total for the upcoming season would be approxiamtely 45 points (for any player just multiply their cost by five for expected return value based upon previous performance, no personal biases included in costing)

At 45 points he would be expected to earn either and average of 6.43 points per week or 4.09 points per match.

Let's use points per match for example... his trade value at the beginning of week one would be 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 = 45.00

If Leta earned zero points in week one and played two matches his trade value at the beginning of week two would be 0.00 + 0.00 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 + 4.09 = 36.82

We then divide this figure by a variable based on the number of matches they have remaining to ensure that players with more played games don't simply just get dumped off for alternatives with less games played if both players are at equal strength such a trade would not necessarily be fair.

This isn't how it works verbatim, but this is the general concept behind calculating trade values.

The five is only used for player costing at the beginning of the season for team creation purposes, not in the calculation of trade values.

I chose five in the very first Fantasy season because it seemed like a nice number while still leaving enough variation in player costs. That and I don't think people trying to calculate out making a 150 point team would be a very nice thing to do :p

(it was also not just an arbitrary decision, everything down to how players are costed and points allowed per team went through various stages of testing and tweaking to get it to be as functional as possible. Maybe one day I'll write a detailed account of my almost year-long process of creating and testing Fantasy Proleague with myself and figuring it out how best to work it... and then how it all got screwed up because of a change in Proleague format. Today is not the day I am going to write about that)

As far as changing trade values based on number of games left, it will change based on the week, since the variable when progamers are split between having 7 or 8 games remaining is different than them being split between having 2 or 3 games remaining. The latter will have larger variance between the two groups, while the variable in the former will not alter the values nearly as much percentage-wise as seven-eighths is a lot closer to 1.00 than two-thirds.

So basically progamers that have 8 games remaining will use a modifier of 1.00 while players with 7 games remaining would use a modifier of 0.875, making their value slightly less since they will have less future opportunities to play.

In the example above his new "cost value" would be 7.36, dropped down from nine.

This is a more extreme example of early value drop though, as Leta earning absolutely zero would be unexpected and most value fluctuation will happen much more slowly as the round progresses.

In the example of Leta, if that were to happen, here is an idea of how other players could rise (or retain) a trade value to be traded for Leta after week one.

Lets try to see what scores in week one other players would need to get to obtain that cost value.

In all the below instances the example of performances would make it so that Leta could not be traded for the players in the example, but those players could now be traded for Leta. If you want to see what Leta would able to be traded FOR, then just assume that the below example did poorer than their expected outcomes provided.

8 points:
?.?? + 9 * 3.64 = 36.82
?.?? = 4.09
This player would need to earn at least five points in two games to have a greater value than Leta at the end of week one (this player would be expected to earn about 7)

(9) Leta - 0 >>>> (8) free - 4-
(9) Leta - 0 <<<< (8) free - 5+

7 points:
?.?? + 9 * 3.18 = 36.82
?.?? = 8.18
This player would need at least nine points in his first two matches to match Leta's value for a trade (this player would be expected to earn about 6, so he would have to perform above expectations).

(9) Leta - 0 >>>> (7) Mind - 8-
(9) Leta - 0 <<<< (7) Mind - 9+

8 points (but only 1 game played)
(?.?? + 10 * 3.64) * 1.1 = 36.82
?.?? + 10 * 3.64 = 33.47
?.?? = 0.92
This player would need to only earn one point in his first game to exceed Leta's value (which is slightly easier to do than other 8-pointers, since this 8-pointer has one more game left to play in the season when compared to all the other players)

(9) Leta - 0 >>>> (8) HiyA - 0
(9) Leta - 0 <<<< (8) HiyA - 1+


Of course every single player will have these calculated values every week (thank goodness for automation!) and you will be able to unload a player for ANY player with less value on your team. Or in the case of your negative team you can only trade for a player with more value (the opposite of your regular team)