Newcomer / Intro What do red/green arrows mean on trade screen?

[ansi]

The red and green arrows that appear on the right for the different stations you have trade data for etc (on trade screen), what do they indicate exactly. At first I thought they meant buy/sell from that station (but they appear on both consumed by and produced by sections etc, hopefully this is relatively clear enough lol, maybe hard to explain in words or I'm tired/dumb )

 

[Chris Simon]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean, but I think that's simply a comparison of the prices you're looking at vs. the prices at the station you have selected for comparison.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

edit: nevermind, I thought I knew what they meant but am finding a lot of examples that indicate I probably don't....

The numbers shown are the actual buy or sell price, perhaps the arrows reflect current trend of those prices (upward or downward)? When you purchase trade data it is called "trending trade data" so the arrows may be a reflection of said trend.

Happy Trading Commander! 07

 

[FrogsFriend]

They show the actual buy/sell price, for the commodity you currently have selected, for those stations. For 'consumed by' stations, if the price they buy at is higher than the price the station you're at will buy them then it shows a green arrow (you'll make more money by flying there to sell your goods); red arrow if they don't pay as much. For 'produced by' stations its the reverse; green means you can buy them cheaper there, red they are more expensive.

EDIT - Hmmm, the prices are right but the arrows remain mysterious...

 

[Jaggid Edje]

It's a comparison to the galactic average, is it not?

My original response was the same as yours, because I though that is what it was, but after looking through the marketplace item by item determined it definitely was not the case.
Sometimes it's a red arrow down even when it's higher than GA, and visa versa.

They show the actual buy/sell price, for the commodity you currently have selected, for those stations. For 'consumed by' stations, if the price they buy at is higher than the price the station you're at will buy them then it shows a green arrow (you'll make more money by flying there to sell your goods); red arrow if they don't pay as much. For 'produced by' stations its the reverse; green means you can buy them cheaper there, red they are more expensive.

The arrows also do not coincide with "higher" and "lower" than current station either...I checked that too. Again, the arrows aren't consistent as a reflection of compared prices between current station and displayed station. Sometimes when the other station is a higher price it is a down arrow, and sometimes it's up. So it can't be that either.

 

[Para Handy]

It is an indication of relative prices in your "known" markets. In the image below for Sell screen for the product Insulating Membrane you can see that three "consumer" markets have lower prices than your current station (and one the same). In the Produced By section you can see that the purchase priceat Hun Chami is more than you paid for it to me that up arrow should be RED but it looks like up arrows are always green down are always red.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

That doesn't hold up @Para Handy. If you view various commodities and look at the arrows and prices shown, you'll find instances that counter it.

In the screenshot below you'll see that Surface Stabilisers sell for 399 CR at the current station. For the "also produced by" section in the right, there is a red down arrow for LHS 2335 which is lower than that, at 376. But there is also a red down arrow for the two other stations, one which is equal in price and one which is higher.

Exceptions like this can be found whether you think it's comparing to current station or galactic average.

 

[Para Handy]

That doesn't hold up @Para Handy. If you view various commodities and look at the arrows and prices shown, you'll find instances that counter it.

In the screenshot below you'll see that Surface Stabilisers sell for 399 CR at the current station. For the "also produced by" section in the right, there is a red down arrow for LHS 2335 which is lower than that, at 376. But there is also a red down arrow for the two other stations, one which is equal in price and one which is higher.

Exceptions like this can be found whether you think it's comparing to current station or galactic average.

Well I am flummoxed by that then. Maybe it is (as you said above) indicative of price trends at those markets? I am not sure that I can be bothered to experiment to see what is going on (I really need to get my explorer account to BP soon), maybe some trading wiz can illuminate.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

Well I am flummoxed by that then. Maybe it is indicative of price trends at those markets? I am not sure that I can be bothered to experiment to see what is going on (I really need to get my explorer account to BP soon), maybe some trading wiz can illuminate.

Yah, it's a real humdinger. I originally thought the same as what your post said, because most of the time it holds up. Then I found a few exceptions...

I honestly think it's possibly just showing the price trend, upward or downward, for the station in question. But the time investment required to determine if that is accurate is out of the question. I don't care that much.

 

[FrogsFriend]

Curioser and curioser.... now I feel I have to go check them out further

EDIT - here goes, based on a survey of 6 assorted stations.

Sell Screen
Consumed by: green arrow if they pay more than the current station, red if less.
Produced by: green arrow if you can buy it for less than the current station will pay, red if it's a higher price.
This screen appeared to be very consistent with no anomalies seen.

Buy Screen
Consumed by: green arrow if they'll pay more than the price you can buy it here, red arrow if they'll pay less. (*)
Produced by: green arrow if they sell it for at least 20-30Cr (best guess figure, may increase with higher priced goods) less than the price you can buy it here, red arrow otherwise.
The margin on the produced-by goods may be to allow for the time and effort of going there for a small price difference.

(*) Occasionally a 'consumed by' price will be a little below the price you can buy at the current station (you'll make a loss) and still show a green arrow. I think the prices may not be including effects from Faction states at the named stations. This was previously seen with the Galaxy Map trading tools and may still be happening. More research needed.