Station Trading. It’s that thing we all want to do, but few of us rarely succeed at. So why is it so “hard?”

The answer is, it’s not. It’s not hard to buy something at a low price, and sell it for a higher price. It’s not hard to scan through the market and find items with reasonable spreads and margins. It’s not hard to anticipate market trends, or figure out what moves quickly and what doesn’t. Station Trading IS NOT HARD. It is however, a bit tedious, time-consuming, and from time to time rage inducing. It’s also, for what its worth in my experience, one of the most “guarded” professions in New Eden. Meaning, very few people will offer actual help to up and coming “Station Traders,” other than to say to them, “buy low, sell high.”

There’s a good reason for that, Trade Routes or in the case of Station Trading, profitable items can come and go as quickly as you can invest your billions of isk. An item with a 12% margin at 12 noon, could have a 2% margin by 3:00pm. So “us” traders, tend to be pretty quiet about offering up specifics of what we are trading and where. This includes yours truly, so while in this post I’ll offer some insight, I’ll stay away from specifics, if you can by looking at the image figure out what I am currently “in” good for you, odds are I’ll be “out” of those items in a day or two anyway!

So. Station Trading. What is it? Station Trading in EVE is the act of trading goods without leaving the station. This means you BUY and SELL all the items within 1 station (or multiple stations if you have several accounts) There is no hauling, there is little to no contracting, there is no moving items from one region to another. You literally log in to your market hub, and fill your screen with spreadsheets, wallet transactions, and market information and bash your keyboard with your fat fingers whilst drinking Mountain Dew and eating hot pockets.

The Advantages? Simple. Low Overhead, you don’t need a freighter, you don’t need a ton of trade skills, you don’t need to rely on shipping services or worry about high-sec ganks. You can also trade quickly, for two reasons. Since all your transactions are happening locally you are never out of position to modify orders, or jump on new opportunities as they present themselves, AND since your most likely trading in a “hub” the volume of daily orders is significantly higher than null or low, so your wallet is going to blink more rapidly. Finally, and maybe the biggest overall advantage to station trading, it can be done EXTREMELY passively, even at work hehe.

The Disadvantages? Well the biggest one is competition. Everyone wants to Station Trade, it’s the ultimate “wow I can get rich in a few days” fairy tale for new players. That and it really is pretty easy, with low entry barriers. So, competition, and this leads to the inevitable market pvp and .01 isk wars that take place in the major trade hubs. Another disadvantage would be it’s much more difficult to “mark up” the items you trade. In major trade hubs, the spread and dochian channels are a lot tighter, because of the aforementioned competition. So unlike, traders who move items from high-sec hubs to low sec, or null-sec at a steep market, you have to trade on average with much tighter margins.

Alright, so Esharan? Why do you do it? Well I station trade for two primary reasons. Firstly, it’s an activity I can do at work remotely, using remote desktop! More importantly, it’s a great way to make huge amounts of isk, if you are willing to put up the capital.

So before I jump into my general philosophy and strategy, a few key notes about Station Trading. Firstly, there are 4 major trade hubs. The largest by far is a system we all know and love; Jita. Now, If you are a “novice” or new trader, I highly recommend not starting in Jita. Jita has the largest amount of compeitition, it requires a more hands on approach to adjust orders more frequently, and the best items to trade in Jita (in my opinion) are higher ticket items that trade on lower volume, but with higher margins that may not be affordable to trade for a newbro. Two reasons for this include the higher ticket items, much like higher-priced stocks in the “real world” are more difficult for your average capsuleer to play with, so by trading high ticket items you are immediately reducing your competition and at the same time increasing your average profit per item.

The second biggest hub is Amarr. Second biggest, when compared to Jita isn’t saying much, but still it’s something. The volume of trade in Amarr is significantly lower, but this also creates huge opportunity for traders who are willing to be more patient. Typically, margins and spreads on items in Amarr are much wider – giving newer traders more opportunity to cash in. Furthermore, the lower priced items, including t1 modules and ships, are less competitive here so you don’t need to micro-manage all day.

Third is Dodixie. In my opinion, Dodixie is the best trade hub for new traders. The competition here is significantly lower than Jita or Amarr. As a new trader you can really take your time and learn how to idenitify the best items and don’t need to worry as much about sudden and potentially crippling market fluctuations. Dodixie is a “cool” trade hub, meaning there’s plenty of activity especially for lower/cheaper ticket items where a newbro can make good isk, but you don’t have to be a literal shit-lord like I am camping Jita all day .01 isking.

Last and by far the least, is Hek. Hek is scary, Hek is a gamble. The widest “spreads” on items, but they might sit for a few months before they sell. I never go there.

Alright so here is my trading philosophy, and I’ll give you all spai’s some insight on items I trade..

First of all diversify. Buy items from a broad spectrum of categories; shield, armor, ECCM, electronic warfare, ammo, etc. etc. Not only will this make trading more fun since your wallet will blink more often, but it’s just good practice. If one item tanks or becomes a lousy trade, you have other modalities to pull you out of a hole.

Secondly, be patient and look at price history. Do not go all in on that first item you see with a 40% margin, thinking you are going to hit it big right away. First of all, that item might have a 40% margin because I just bought every item in a fit of rage and re-listed them all for a massive up-price to hyper-dunk some other trader who was messing with my .01 isking. That price will not last, and you will be caught with a ton of useless mods that are now selling for nothing.

Third, trade within your limit. As a new trader, DO NOT start with Faction Battleships. You’re going to have a bad time. Do not bottom out your wallet on a single item. Go back to Diversify.

Fourth, beware of Tech 2 items. Frankly, I almost entirely avoid trading Tech 2 items unless I see a huge opportunity. The risk is too great that some T2 BPO holder comes along and suddenly dumps 50,000 units of whatever it is you are working with and crashes the market for a few months. Meta 3 and 4 items are “Where It’s at.” These items are entirely driven by drops, so there is actually a limited supply at any one time.

Fifth, when you are ready trade faction mods. Faction mods are my favorite item to trade, hands down. The supply is more limited, the margins are typically better, and the entry cost is high enough that a lot of people stay away. The volume is lower so .01 isking isn’t as bad either.

Sixth, do not wait on stock (unless its Geckos!). Buy an item, sell an item. This is sort of skill dependent but if you have the order capacity to support it, I see no reason to sit on stock. Re-list items you buy as fast as you can to turn it over as fast as you can. Items sitting in your hanger are straight up liabilities.

Seventh, the market is cyclical. Learn it’s patterns, and don’t panic. Thursday-Saturday shit goes crazy, competition spikes and prices swing much more rapidly. Sunday – Wednesday, it’s a lot slower.

Finally, get Elinor! This handy little tool is legit all I use for Trading (Although I have recently subscribed to EVE-Mogul). It gives you an instant margin analysis, volume analysis and will auto-copy your buy/sell price which makes updating orders a lot easier and faster. I simply love it!

So with Station Trading, you can easily make over a billion a day profit. One thing you have to realize is that when station trading, liquid isk is useless. Your wallet is going to “shrink” as you put up buy orders, but don’t worry you ARE profiting. This is why a tool like EVE-Mogul is useful to show your daily profit, because it might not be immediately apparent to you in-game since you SHOULD be re-investing your revenue just about as quickly as you get it.

So here’s my disclaimer. I am by no means an uber trader. I typically am making about 300-600 mil per day when I actively manager my orders, which is pretty well, lets just say I am sure some people who read this are going to laugh at me for my peasantry status. Still, 600 mil a day ain’t too shabby for working in 1 hub, and I’m still learning. Here’s how much I made today (It was a “good day!) Remember however, this doesn’t show in my wallet, because I have immediately re-invested almost all of it.