Trading mechanics

Read the price, then check the quantity

A stable coverage reference and actual physical reserves drive each station’s stock curve; local logistics add a modest overlay. Production, consumption and delayed shipments move the stock along that curve. There is no second seasonal stock shock. Buying removes goods and pushes later asks up; selling adds goods and pushes later bids down.

Stock & price curves show the complete floor-to-ceiling formula for each good and station. Shading marks theoretical stock outside station storage limits. You can manually set an example reserve and shipment, compare hold fittings and export the displayed curve; the tool never reads a voyage. The price follows a symmetric S-curve from empty to full storage. Its bend is at 50% full, where price is halfway between the existing upper and lower reference limits before rounding. The same stock fraction has the same curve position at small and large stations. Low stock raises prices; high stock lowers them. Factory working reserves and daily sale/buy limits remain separate. Seasonal inventory is not added as a second price shock.

An order clears each successive lot against the same stock curve. The total includes that movement, so multiplying the first unit quote by a large quantity can misstate the cost. Splitting the same order into smaller trades does not avoid its price impact.

Textiles and refined alloy stock also have an ingredient-and-normal-service cost floor. This prevents their ordinary factory output from being permanently priced below its required feedstock; the reviewed base tiers for these two composites were adjusted deliberately. Other commodity value tiers stay fixed.

These tiers apply to ordinary exchange goods. Reputation and earned XP do not independently discount their daily prices. See the pricing equations.

Unbooked legal cargo-factor asks stay above the current local exchange bid; accepted work keeps its agreed terms. Essential water, gas and mineral-treatment lines receive metered station support when their input and normal processing values exceed their sale tariffs. Coproduct revenue reduces the shortfall, and only actual work is funded. This is station accounting, with no cash claim for a captain. Textiles, refined alloy, filters and magnesium have targeted ingredient-and-service quote floors; other value tiers remain unchanged.

One stock pool, with daily production and use

A station and product share one finite exchange stock pool across purchases for ships, warehouse trades and ordinary client freight pickups. The same units cannot be sold to several buyers at once. Three days of factory inputs and two days of final use are protected within those stores. The saleable shelf has a separate finite daily allocation. Buyer allowances follow consumption and net exports, existing receipts and signed procurement, as well as physical receiving room. Daily limits follow net stock movements: selling goods to a station makes those goods available to buy again, and buying them back releases the buyer allowance used by that sale. A round trip restores the original allowance; it cannot expand it or create cargo. Factory reserves and physical receiving room remain protected. Trades conserve whole lots; fractional reserves carry forward.

Production adds stock and local use removes it. Every resupply shipment withdraws real goods from its producer and takes time to arrive. Extra freight is limited by source stock and route capacity. A verified blockade holds inbound goods and suspends departures until the route reopens; missing inputs can slow factories. Reading or refreshing the exchange never advances time or replenishes stock.

Planned production balances planned consumption separately for each of the 64 goods over the 1,440-game-day cycle. Primary extraction and collection range from 12,000–28,000 lots/day, averaging 20,000. Intermediate processing ranges from 6,000–14,000, averaging 10,000; higher-tier production ranges from 1,800–4,200, averaging 3,000. These are totals across the network, in 250 kg lots. Gross output averages 33,000 lots/day because the same material passes through several stages; only 20,000 lots of new primary material enter the system on an average day.

All stages use the same capacity cycle. Factory ingredients are consumed when the corresponding batch actually runs. Final customer demand peaks 120 days later; total consumption is the sum of those factory inputs and final demand, rather than a second independently imposed output curve. Mineral concentrates and brines have industrial consumers, not invented household demand. Full-cycle means can balance while individual stations have predictable surpluses, deficits or temporary shortages. The catalogue shows planned full-supply flows, not the current shelf stock or guaranteed output in a voyage.

Raw resources and local processing

The exchange now carries 64 legal goods. Separate ore concentrates and refined metals include iron, nickel, cobalt, silicon feedstock, magnesium, aluminum, titanium and copper, plus precious metals and certified uranium concentrate. Volatile cargo includes purified liquid water, nitrogen, helium, argon, methane, ethane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. Brines, sodium salts, carbonates and sulfur support local chemistry.

Every station has at least eight core products whose full-cycle production exceeds local use and whose output is offered for sale. Those core lines require no later commodity-discovery milestone or specialist hold; station access, funds and available space still apply. Surplus is an average flow, not an unlimited inventory promise. Reserves can be exhausted and blockades can interrupt supply. Other valuable or specialist consignments retain their discovery and handling rules.

Locations have distinct declared facilities: lunar and Martian mineral processors, Ceres brine and Belt-ore depots, Titan hydrocarbon plants, Triton nitrogen-frost processing and costly robotic gas-collection contracts at the giant-planet relays. Smaller science outposts now have limited nonbiological collection, materials finishing or imported-feedstock refurbishment. Protected ocean material and possible life remain outside commodity trade. These developed industries and their capacities are fictional design choices informed by broad composition; they are not claims of measured ore reserves or existing commercial extraction.

Inputs, batches and shortages

Each daily process requires every listed ingredient in local stock. Shared ingredients are allocated fairly among eligible lines; a line blocked by another missing ingredient releases unused capacity for others. Output can be partial or zero. Ingredients are withdrawn before output is credited, so fresh output cannot feed another factory on the same day. Selling an input to the station, an NPC resupply arrival or an earlier local batch can restart a later daily batch. A blockade does not create materials or catch-up output.

Useful coproducts are credited from the same consumed batch. Water electrolysis yields hydrogen and oxygen; brine recovery yields purified water and salts; reclamation returns the named constituents of refined metal stock with losses. Unrecovered material becomes process waste, not a tradeable commodity. Powered primary collection has a finite capacity and does not require an invented manufactured ingredient. Installed equipment and ordinary maintenance are separate from bulk batch recipes.

Staple provisions are packaged staple crops; greenhouse produce is a distinct premium refrigerated crop. Refined metal stock contains the eight metals its reclamation process can return. Their permanent item IDs, price tiers and discovery requirements are preserved.

Net lots and loaded holds

Prices and recipes use 250 kg of net material per lot. Packaging adds product-specific tare and packed volume. Cases, sacks, pressure cassettes and cryogenic dewars have different loads. Each ship and warehouse checks both gross weight and volume, plus specialist handling. Fuel uses the packaged shipment mass once. Containers are supplied with cargo and cannot be sold separately. The stock and price tool can fill a selected hypothetical ship using both limits.

Trade can close a gap between stations

Buying from a cheap station reduces its reserves and raises its later prices. Selling at an expensive station increases its reserves and lowers its later prices. Moving enough real supply can therefore narrow or close that good’s price gap. Production, consumption, seasonal plans and replenishment can open another opportunity later.

You can hold your own goods and wait for a better bid. The outcome still depends on the quantity you sell, travel time, compatible cargo space, access, propellant, provisions, berth charges, loan interest and losses. An immediate local buy-and-resell crosses the spread and the same marginal stock curve.

Recovery uses real feedstock and spare capacity

Ordinary batches receive ingredients before overtime is allocated. Shared input reserves can protect up to five days of local use when the receiving station has better coverage. That protection can pause an export; it cannot create goods or erase a route’s travel time.

When output stock falls below half its reference, non-collection lines can use up to 25% spare processing capacity. Every ingredient must already be present. Station power and workshop wear are metered, with overtime billed at 1.5 times their normal service cost. Critical input reserves consider both source and destination coverage. Primary collection remains on its normal tier curve. Concentrate refining returns useful coproducts and records residual waste, instead of destroying finished alloy.

Freight uses real goods and scales with your fleet

Freight acceptance removes every product from the source exchange’s available stock and loads it into compatible active holds. At handover, the receiving client consumes the consignment; it is not added to destination exchange stock for resale. Where the product has local final-use demand, delivery offsets part of that later demand to prevent a second consumption charge. Pure factory feedstock consumed by a private client does not become public factory input or an unspendable final-use credit.

Higher tiers require earned Navigation or Commerce levels, licensed stations, total active cargo capacity and the listed number of active ships. The actual free, compatible holds and source stock are checked again when accepting. Products also retain their discovery and handling requirements.

The board offers up to six distinct receiving stations, with one shipment per destination. Source stock above local reserves is matched against receiving scarcity and expected use, less inbound client consignments and unused demand credits. An active origin–destination route stays reserved across refreshes; accepted, completed and breached bookings also consume their offer cycle. Client freight remains separate from your own inventory: it cannot be traded, donated or used as collateral. Missing goods, theft, abandonment and lateness follow the signed liability terms. Existing accepted contracts keep their original terms.

A share of station profit, plus recorded travel costs

Client goods cost the captain nothing and remain sealed client property. The station values its acquisition at the source bid and its receiving invoice at the destination ask for the full mixed lot. After reserving the loaded reference hull’s operating budget, the remainder funds the commission. Offers need a positive commercial margin; the cargo’s replacement value does not create a fee.

The captain’s commission starts with an 8% share rate, with up to 10 percentage points for raid risk, 4 for receiving need, 2 for journey length and 1 for mixed-cargo handling. Existing crew, relic and captain benefits improve that rate before its cap. The formula leaves the station its retained profit and limits the captain’s commission to 25% of that retained profit. Raid risk is the same corridor-and-approach forecast used by navigation, including confirmed blockades. Higher risk cannot bypass the cap.

Travel reimbursement is separate: actual recorded fuel burn, provisions and berth costs are shared across cargo carried on each departure and capped at the quoted operating allowance. The same voyage cost cannot be reimbursed once for every job. Empty travel and jobs completed without recorded travel earn no travel reimbursement. Noncash capital, unrelated repairs, delays and unagreed costs are not additional allowances. The board shows the commission and expense ceiling, with the current amount payable on delivery. Accepted commissions and ceilings do not reprice. An unaccepted offer’s deadline is fixed from its dispatch issue date and loaded reference-route time, with 90 days of handling allowance. It disappears when the current loaded fleet’s flight plus clearance would arrive too late. Acceptance checks that timing again. Arrival on the due date is allowed; elapsed travel and incident delays count toward expiry. A new dispatch cycle can post a new offer, with its own deadline.

A missed deadline, abandonment or loss forfeits payment. Surviving goods stay sealed on their carrying ships, with no owned purchase basis, trading access or collateral value. Return them to a freight office where the carrying ship is physically present. Ordinary breaches bill only missing goods and the signed breach fee. Later loss of return cargo bills only the extra missing value, with no second breach fee. Theft is explicit and bills full restitution plus the fee; only then do retained goods become tradable with restitution basis. Funds pay first and unpaid charges join the original charter account at Meridian. Deposits are not silently withdrawn. Every settlement is recorded once.

See the freight formula.

Liberated stations pay temporary recovery premiums

Travelling to a blockaded station forces the blockade encounter before docking, whether or not you accepted a liberation commission. Defeating the entire hostile formation frees the station.

For 30 game days after liberation, ordinary exchange sell prices receive a fading recovery premium. It is strongest for goods the station consumes more than it produces. Each recovery bid remains below the corresponding marginal ask, so buying locally and immediately reselling cannot turn the premium into a profit loop.

The premium also covers your owned warehouse goods sold through that exchange. Restricted goods, relics, ship sales and contract payments retain their separate rules. These conditional voyage premiums are explained here and excluded from the generic baseline price curves. See the recovery formula.

Price curves help put a quote in context

The price distributions collect daily purchase and sale quotes over the complete 1,440-day public pricing cycle. Each eligible station-day counts once. Buy observations come from stations listing the item; sell observations come from accepting exchanges. The two curves show quoted prices in credits, with separate means, medians, extrema and standard-deviation markers.

A low buy percentile identifies an unusually cheap public ask; a high sell percentile identifies an unusually high public bid. Holding goods does not give a guaranteed sale date or transaction at that price. The frequency of a quote is not the likelihood of a profitable journey.

Max gain/loss and average gain/loss are a separate comparison of independent purchase and sale quote pairs, before route costs. They do not assume a feasible itinerary or ordered purchase and sale dates. Return-column sorting changes credits versus percentages; price curves always use credits. See the price and return methods.

All displayed figures are generic approved reference data. Player shipments, depleted stock and liberation premiums can move a voyage’s quotes outside the baseline ranges. No player save, balance, inventory or discovery progress is loaded by this site.

Check the market and who owns the cargo

Station buys means you can sell your own goods to that station. A station that consumes a good accepts it, including factory ingredients it does not retail. Station sells means you can buy from its available stock. A station that produces a good lists that output, even if it consumes more than it makes. Retail imports and transit merchandise can also be offered. A net-consumption label does not forbid local production or sales.

The game uses Buy and Sell; reference prices marked You buy are what you pay, and You sell are what you receive. Buyer-only stations have a sell-to-station price but no purchase offer. A station with no consumption, production or retail route for a product does not quote a trade there; those hypothetical quotes are excluded from its distributions. Stock can temporarily run out, and your own discoveries, licences and compatible cargo space still apply. The Sell view shows only eligible goods in the selected fleet or local warehouse; it does not list things you do not own.

Discovery, operating qualifications, regional access and compatible holds govern what a captain can buy or carry in the game. The reference site shows every option and its requirements, regardless of a player’s progress.

Restricted dealers and visiting canteen factors have their own finite stock, buyer demand and availability. Discreet dealers apply 2%, 1% or 0.375% each side for Limited, Steady or Plentiful supply. Visiting cargo factors begin at 3% each side of reference value; restricted cargo uses the competing dealer’s midpoint when that desk is open. Protective local quote limits keep their asks above the competing local bid, and their bids below the lowest same-day local ask. Whole-credit rounding still applies. Cargo-screening packages, individual ammunition types, engineering spares, relics and recovered antiquities retain their own purchase, use and resale rules. They do not inherit the ordinary exchange daily-price distribution.

Warehouses hold local inventory; only your own eligible goods can be moved or sold. Client freight and tenant consignments remain client-owned. Restricted warehouse tenants reserve real space and can face inspection and seizure under their agreed concealment and liability terms. Read about warehouse leases.

Plan a trading business

New captains have ten general-cargo goods. Medical supplies remain available for care requests in small batches of two lots per station/day; an Industrial account opens wholesale quantities. Earned Commerce and exchange visits open materials, industrial, specialist and advanced accounts. Goods within each account have staggered Commerce requirements. New discoveries arrive at most 2 at a time, rather than as a whole account. After a release, earn another 120 Commerce XP or make a first visit to another station to reveal the next eligible pair. Each good’s own XP, account and access requirements still apply. Browsing, waiting and zero-XP trades do not release more goods; large rewards never reveal more than 2 in one action. Navigation helps exploration but cannot open a wholesale account by itself. Owned goods and client freight remain visible when account requirements change; generic reference sites list every good independently of player progress.

The Exchange handles Buy and Sell orders for your own goods, with an explicit quantity, inventory and total. Client shipments and their delivery contracts belong at the Freight office. Compare the actual loaded route and operating costs before departure; trade tips and earlier quotes are not guaranteed future sale prices.

Profitable supplies to an undersupplied customer can build a bounded business relationship through ordinary sales. Warehouses can buffer purchases and stagger sales, but cargo stays at its physical station and still faces daily buyer limits. Leasing spare space is supplemental business, never permission to sell tenant cargo.

Bulk hulls serve large or mixed manifests; refrigerated, radiation, tanker and workshop holds serve different certified cargo. Compare the useful load after fittings and ammunition, loaded fuel and operating expenses rather than nominal capacity alone. A larger ship does not guarantee a larger profit: an extra lot may exhaust a buyer or erase the spread. Merchant objectives track reliable local customers and a wider regional network.

Raiders assess cargo value, regional exposure and fleet protection. A valuable load can face a larger demand than a starter shipment. Payment, evasion and negotiation remain merchant responses; a confirmed station blockade still forces its encounter before docking. A forecast raid risk is a chance of an encounter, not an insurance payment.

Approved economy v95 · 64 exchange goods · 26 stations. Generic reference; no player data.