Sequence selection techniques for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) are provided. A User Equipment (UE) sends a request to a base station, the request indicating that the UE is to conduct at least one uplink transmission. The UE receives, in response to the request, an indicator of an expected system load, a value of the indicator including a total number of sequences expected to be used at one time for uplink transmissions in the system. The UE detects that at least two different pairs of sequences in a configured set of sequences have different cross correlation values, the sequences in the set configured for scrambling uplink transmissions. The UE selects, in response to the detecting and based on the indicator, at least one sequence with an improved cross correlation with at least one other sequence the at least one sequence and the at least one other sequence to be used for scrambling uplink transmissions within the system.