1.1.4 Reverse Trading: Prices can go down as well as up.

An important feature of the market that is often overlooked is the fact that prices can be inflated by 'reverse' trading. This principle is similar to the law of supply and demand in the real economic world.

Say for example you want to buy some gold, and you have 100.000 stone (thanks to the 300% stone upgrade). Simply trade away gold in 1000 increments and you'll notice the buying price for gold drop dramatically, but meanwhile the price for stone to gold goes up, and that’s exactly what we want. And then, you sell all your stone to gold at a much higher price than you normally would have had.

 
An example would be:

Normally you get 83 gold for 1000 stone ( 1:12). Not really good. Unless you sell gold to stone. But we want to sell stone to gold. By doing reverse trading of 8 times 1000 gold to stone you increase the price of gold to 205 per 1000 stone , you get a much better result than when you sell the stone without doing anything.

 
This technique works for all resources but bear in mind that the more you sell, the more profit you will have.
So what happens in the market if you counter sell? Suppose we want to sell stone to gold. But we want to increase the price for stone/gold. So here is a list with  what happens when you counter sell x times 1000 gold to stone and the effect it has on the price. Again, we go from the idea that prices are at a minimum level of 83 : 1000 ( since you usually do not play alone and other people have been using the market as well ).
 
 
 
1.1.5 Best R.O.I. ( Return on investment)
 

Now that you know how to increase the price of any resource, let’s have a deeper look at “How many times should I counter trade now”, is the next question. This depends on the amount of resources that you are going to sell. 300 000 is much more efficient then 100 000, and the selling of anything less than 70 000 isn’t really worth the effort.

From 100 000 (stone for example), it get’s interesting. Best R.O.I. ( Return on investment ): (result in gold )
 
 

Amount*: the amount of stone that you want to sell to stone

Times 1000 gold *: the number of times you reverse trade 1000 gold to stone.

Price of Gold/Stone*: after you reversed trade, 1000 stone will give you x gold.

 

50 times seems  to be (is) the maximum for gold/ stone. If you reverse trade more, the prices don't change (see maximum prices chapter 1.1.6 -next page). This example was calculated to achieve an as good as possible ROI. It would be wise to apply this as well in the game . You quickly get used to it. 
 
The explanation/motivation:(for those that don’t believe me or are skeptical) You could say for example, well I have 100 000 stone:
  •         If you do nothing, then you get 8 300 gold for that ( 83 : 1 000 –see list with minimum prices above 1.1.3 )
  •     If you do 8 times 1000 gold to stone and then 100 000 stone to gold, then you get 19 600 gold for that. But you did sell  8 000 gold. So your net result is 19 600 - 8000 = 11 600
  •         If you do 9 times 1000 gold to stone and then 100 000 stone to gold, then you get 20 500 gold for that. But you did sell 9 000 gold. So your net result is 20 500 – 8 000 = 11 500.
  •         If you do 10 times 1000 gold to stone and then 100 000 stone to gold, then you get 21 000 gold for that. But you did sell 10 000 gold. So your net result is 21 000 – 10 000= 11 000.
  •         If you do 12 times 1000 gold, to stone and then 100 000 stone to gold, then you get 22 000 gold for that. But you did sell 12 000 gold. So you net result is 22 000 – 12 000= 10 000.

So conclusion: Doing nothing: then you have 2 300 gold less than when you reverse trade 8 or 9 times. But much more important is that you have seen that when you over-reverse trade ( 10 time’s or even 12), you’re actually having less gold after the operation then when you would have implemented the best ROI.

You can say now, oh well 2300 gold less or 1500, that’s nothing. Indeed, you are right, but when you are selling bigger amounts, the difference gets enormous and since one should always follow the principle of “you never have enough gold” in this game, then the correct use of this, is a key factor in winning the game, along with many other things, of course. It’s the accumulation of all these small things , that makes you “that guy”, that plays better than the others.

Let’s continue: 

You could say, well I have 1 million stone: 

·         If you do nothing then you get 83 000 gold for that.

·         If you do 20 times 1000 gold then you get 255 000 gold for that, but you did sell 20 000. So the net result is 255 000 – 20 000 = 235 000 gold. Not bad

·         If you do 25 times 1000 gold then you get 265 000 gold for that, but you did sell 25 000. So the net result is 265 000 – 25 000 = 240 000. Best

·         If you do 30 times 1000 gold then you get 270 000 gold for that, but you did sell 30 000. So the net result is 270 000 – 30 000 =  240 000. This seems to be as good as the last result , but to do this you need 10 000 more gold in reserve , which you could have used for something else already.

·         If you do 50 times 1000 gold then you get 285 000 gold for that, but you did sell 50 000. So the net result is 285 000 – 50 000= 235 000 gold. Simply stupid. 

Are we starting to understand? 
 

At the bottom maximalisation is possible as well. Suppose you don’t have much resources to reverse trade( your base reserve should always be around 10 000 gold) or the game is a bit slow. Alternatively, if you don’t have enough gold, you can as well trade some extra coal or iron to influence the price. Coal and Iron are not as much worth as gold, but they do make the price change, so if you are in trouble or its your second trade rather early in the game, or let’s say you play a 0 pt game, then you could indeed use coal and iron beside's the gold to influence the price. (For more information –see Appendix II: overview on the market trades) This however will not yield you the maximum benefit, but nevertheless an excellent result. 

You could say, I have 70 000 stone: 

·         If you do nothing then you get 83 gold per  1000 stone ( see list minimum prices 1.1.3) If you sell then you get for that 70 000 stone = 5810 gold ( 70 * 83)

·         If you reverse trade 1 time 1000 gold then you get 109 gold/ 1000 stone. If you sell then you will get 7630 gold. But you did sell 1000 gold, so 7630 – 1000 = 6630.

·          If you do 2 times 1000 gold then you get 128 gold / 1000 stone. If you sell then you get 8960. So net result is 8960 – 2000 = 6960.

·          If you do  3 times 1000 gold then you get 144 gold/ 1000  stone. If you sell then you will get 10 080 gold. So the net result is 10 080 – 3000= 7080.Best

·          If you do 4 times 1000 gold then you get 157 gold/stone. If you sell then you get 10 990 gold. So the net result is 10 990 – 4000 = 6080. OW going down again

·          If you do 6 times 1000 gold then you get 178 gold/ stone. If you sell then you get 12 530 gold. So the net result is 12 530 – 6000= 6530. LOL. Going up again!!! ( did I miss here?)

·          If you do 8 times 1000 gold then you get  196 gold/ stone. If you sell then you get 13 720 gold. So the net result is 13 720 – 8000= 5720. LOL. And going down!!!

·          If you do 15 times 1000 gold then you get 237 gold/ stone. If you sell then you get 16590 gold. So the net result is 16590 – 15 000= 1590. LOL. Bad business.!!!

This is what I mean with selling anything less than 70 000 isn’t worth the effort.

 

 

This is of course an example for stone. For the million players I worked out an example for selling excess iron and coal towards gold. ( dont use this on ukraine)
 

If you want to sell 100 000 iron (or coal): 

         If you do 8 times 1000 gold for iron then you get 353 gold/1000 iron. So if you sell you get 35 300. So the net result is 27 300

         If you do 10 times 1000 gold for iron then you get 383 gold/1000 iron. So 38 300. So the net result is 28 300. Going up

         If you do 12 times 1000 gold for iron then you get 409 gold1000 iron. So 40 900. So the net result is 28 900. Still going up

         If you do 15 times 1000 gold for iron then you get 442 gold/1000 iron. So 44 200. So the net result is 29 200. Best

         If you do 20 times 1000 gold for iron then you get 483 gold/1000 iron. So 48 300. So the net result is 28 300. Going down
 
 If you want to sell 800 000 iron (or coal):
               Do 20 times 1000 gold for iron and you get 483 gold/ 1000 iron. So 386 400 gold. The net result is 366 400. 

         Do 25 times 1000 gold for iron and you get 512 gold/ 1000 iron. So 409 622 gold. The net result is 384 600.

         Do 28 times 1000 gold for iron and you get 528 gold/ 1000 iron. So 422 400 gold.The net result is 394 400.

         Do 30 times 1000 gold for iron and you get 539 gold/ 1000 iron. So 431 200 gold. The net result is 401 200.

         Do 40 times 1000 gold for iron and you get 550 gold/ 1000 iron. So 440 000 gold. The net result is 400 000. Going down again, 30 times seems the best option.

 

The maximum seems to be 50 (570 gold/1000 iron) 
 
 
There are also maximum prices in the market. Read the next page for more information on that( follow the link below)
 
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