Time and time again, players make comments about how the market in Guild Wars 2 is "fixed" to keep prices from going too high/low. There appears to be a big misunderstanding as to how the market works, as well as how it affects us as individuals and as a whole. We're going to be looking at the market as a whole, although we will also delve into the Gem market, which is similar in most ways but does have a couple differences. Understanding how all of this works will allow you to make better decisions when both buying and selling items.

High Population Affects Sales Times

This one is probably the most obvious, yet the most misunderstood. There are an unknown number of players in the game at any given time (as the market is cross-world), and a lot of people do their shopping at the same times (since it can be done anywhere). This means at some points your items will sell instantly and others they won't. This, in turn, pushes the volatility of Guild Wars 2's market even higher, as the prices can drop or raise pretty much instantly. Along with this, it decreases the chances of one person (or a small group of people) being able to completely dominate one of the sectors. It's still possible with enough gold, but the risk is high considering how quick the market moves.

The Hot Items

Gear

Most things in Guild Wars 2 have their place on the market, although some are wanted much more than others. When it comes to gear itself, there are different tiers. Each tier has a desire attached to it, as follows:

• White/Blue/Green – Basic/Fine/Masterwork (least desirable)
• Yellow – Rare (desirable)
• Orange – Exotic (more desirable)
• Gold – Legendary (most desirable)

Of all of these items, the Rare and better are the ones that are going to be wanted on the Black Lion Trading Company. Sometimes the masterwork (green) will be as well, although that's not very often.

Materials

Materials are a whole different animal. Every material has at least some value. Some materials, however, are found in such abundance that you really can't make anything off them, while others are so rare that they are worth a lot.

Usually, materials that require a crafting skill of 400 are going to be worth the most. This is because they are more rare. Mined materials can be worth a lot as well, such as Ancient Wood Logs, Orichalcum Ores and Orrian Truffles. Along with this, Globs of Ectoplasm and Lodestones (especially Charged Lodestones) have great value.

The big thing you'll want to know about materials is that they are very volatile, in that prices can raise and drop extremely quick. The prices you see right now may not be the same in 10 minutes.

The Spread

Often times, you will find an item that has both buy orders and sell orders that are spread out. For example, someone may be offering 1G for it, while someone else is selling for 2G. You can make money off the spread, but if the item isn't in much demand you will end up losing money instead. If you decide to take a go at this, the trick is to buy at a little higher than the highest buyer (in this case, try 1G1S), and then if it is bought, resell at a little under 2G. If it works, you profit. The risk here is that the market can sway up or down at any point. You may find that when you get a buy the price has gone down a lot, or it could be the opposite and you earn more than you planned on. If you're planning to use this method, it's best to go with common materials and such, as there's always a market for them.

Gem Exchange

Now that we've covered the rest of the things, it's time to move on to the gem exchange. When you're looking at it, you will see a chart that shows about a week of prices. It always starts in the Gold → Gem setting, so if you want to go the opposite way you'll need to click on the "Trade Gold for Gems" button.

As you might guess, you want to trade gold for gems when the price is lowest, and trade gems for gold when it's highest. The big thing to note here, though, is that you do not want to do quick flipping back and forth. As of this writing, the chart shows that it would cost 3G to get 100 gems, but 100 gems only sells for 2.25G. If this were flipped before the price rose to 4G, there would be a big loss.

As for how these prices are determined, it's based on which way the transactions are going. If more people are trading their gems in, the price in gold will go down. If more people are trading their gold in, the price in gold will go up. If you see a big spike, that's from one (or many) very large sales one way or the other. Usually if there's a large peak, someone will move their funds in the opposite direction dropping it back down.

Conclusion

There's a lot of gold that can be earned on the Black Lion Trading Company, but it's a very risky situation. There are a lot of people due to the merging of the worlds, meaning items are changing hands constantly. If you're very attentive to it, however, you can make a lot on it!