So in Australia the transfer fee is completely separate than the cap? In MLS, only 3 transfers are excempt (the DPs).A number of other leagues have caps, but only in the US is there a system where you have to trade, you can't buy. In the Australian A-League, for example, they have a cap which is half the size of that of MLS, but they have full free agency and clubs are free to use their own money on transfer fees. In practice, of course, how it usually works is players only sign for a couple of seasons and most transfers happen when players are released by their club, but still, there's no trading.