IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FED2
TRADING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
BEING A SUCCESSFUL MERCHANT
Now you know the mechanics of trading on the exchanges, it's time to concentrate just a little on the techniques to being a successful Merchant. The golden rule is:
Buy low, sell high!
In order to do that, you need to understand the economy of the Solar System, and have a grasp on what each planet is likely to want to buy and sell. As a general rule, the planets produce commodities from the following groups:
Agricultural:
Earth
Rhea
Resource:
Sumatra
Titan
Venus
Industrial:
Brass
Moon
Paradise
Technical:
Castillo
Mars
Pearl
Silk
Biological:
Doris
Phobos
Leisure:
Magellan
Mercury
The Lattice
This is only a general rule because they won't necessarily produce every commodity in those categories and may produce odd commodities from others. Biological commodities are the only ones which are never produced on planets at other economic levels; they are so dangerous to develop that strict rules govern where and how they can be manufactured.
Out-of-Sol planets start at Agricultural level and advance as their economies grow. You can see what level a planet is by typing 'DI PLANET planetname'.
Each commodity has a base price, which is shown on the table at the end of this section. Each exchange then calculates the exchange price for each commodity, depending on how much is in stock, and what the planet's population demands, and is capable of producing. Different commodities behave in different ways, so you may see wild variations in the price of one commodity, whereas another commodity will remain a lot steadier. Finally, the exchange applies a markup, or spread, when calculating the buying and selling prices, to ensure it makes a profit.
Observing the movement of prices over time will soon give you a grasp of which commodities are available in abundance, and which are in short supply, as well as the way the prices change. You will then be able to formulate trading strategies.
When you sell goods to an exchange, half of the amount is absorbed by the planet; the other half is used to fill the exchange's deficits or to provide a surplus. The exchange won't switch to selling the commodity until it has at least 75 tons - one container load - available for sale.
Things that happen in the Galaxy will also have an effect on prices. Natural disasters, new discoveries, accidents and so on could affect the stockpile of a particular commodity on a particular planet, or the production or consumption figures for the relevant commodity. On average, each planet will experience 2 or 3 of these events each day.
You can see a report of events which effect exchanges by typing 'DI EVENTS', which shows the entire list. If you just want to know about the events on one planet, use 'DI EVENTS planetname'. These things will have an effect on prices so you need to keep an eye on them so you can take advantage of them when buying and selling goods. To help you monitor these occurrences, you can ask Messrs Trumble, Cruikshank and Bone to notify you when they happen. 'REPORT EVENTS' will switch on the receipt of exchange notifications, and 'CANCEL EVENTS' will switch them off again. The notifications will last until you log off.
Once you have mastered the intricacies of trading on the Solar System planets, you can venture into the exchanges on out-of-Sol planets - those owned by players. These work in the same way as the solar exchanges at the moment, but the owners will soon be given control over the economy and be able to determine whether the planets give good prices or not. Therefore it will pay to be chummy with the POs and find out their particular wants and needs.
Plutocrats will set customs levies to charge those that import goods, so crossing cartel borders in the course of your trading can get expensive. The Sol customs rate is 10% - other cartels may vary depending on whether the owner wishes to encourage imports or not.
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