Trading 102: Location, Location, Location

You want to be close to the ocean? That’s 11% more. Close to three subway stops? That’s 9% more on the asking price. With trading, just as with real estate, location matters.

People go to Jita because it is the place for items. But why do people flock to Jita?

• Price: the volume is high and the margins small, so the price of the items will always be very competitive. Whenever reaction numbers are adjusted or new modules/ships released, this is the fastest market to adjust to the new price.
• Volume: if I put a buy or sell order up, it should sell faster than any other location in Eve due to the sheer amount of trading volume that occurs in Jita. Now do keep in mind that high volume means that a lot of other traders are also working in the same market. Don’t be surprised to see your order get undercut by 0.01 ISK within a few minutes.

In this post I want to describe what happens at the “T2” and “T3” markets as I call them. What do the price and volume look like is other areas?

If you are a visual learner like me, the above infographic should explain it all. In the other markets, the volume decreases while the margins increase.

These volume and margin differences mean that you can make money. Take mission runners for example. These are people that run L4 missions one after the other. When they get a stockpile of salvaged loot, they will most often reprocess it and sell it right at the station.

Take advantage of this laziness. Put up buy orders for modules and minerals and when they stockpile, haul them to Jita to sell. What else do missioners need? Ships, modules, guns, and ammo! Load up Excel and take a look at the price differences between Jita and your test market.

As always, research your market before investing. Mission runners are just one example of a location differential that you can exploit.