[AP] Stock Exchange - How To Invest?

Eheu · Post by **Eheu** » Wed, 21. Dec 11, 15:41

I've been experimenting with the stock exchanges in Albion Prelude, but I can't seem to get a good scheme going and I have nothing like the credits necessary to try and manipulate the market properly.

I pick things with a demand outstripping supply and an index close to 100, putting a small amount of credits into them (100k or so), but they either just stay static or rise in the index, so I make a loss -- what am I doing wrong?

Tormbo · Post by **Tormbo** » Wed, 21. Dec 11, 15:49

Probably nothing. It also depends which class of stock you purchase. Naturals just seem to fluctuate quite randomly, so you will just have to be patient/lucky to make a profit.

The stock relating to actual goods/weapons/shields/missiles are based on supply/demand in the stock exchange sphere of influence. These are easy to manipulate, yet doing so requires some startup bankroll.

See: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=312528

I have not put any time into corporation stock, so I can't really tell you if it's based on anything.

I guess patience and a little bit of luck is in order.

Erikaiht · Post by **Erikaiht** » Wed, 21. Dec 11, 16:34

Corporation stock is not based on anything (proved with several reloads causing massive different changes in to verify).

It can still however make you gobs of money easily. Due to the much higher amount of stock, you should have a decent capitol to invest.

When a stock reaches min price, or index 100/0 depending on settings, you buy. Buying at this price usually means that an increase of 2 credits means you get the 2% back, and then some. Any more is additional profit. Often times it can take a while for them to start to go up, here are some suggestions:

1) Do it in spare time, and wait for a massive spike
2) Buy stocks in several 99/100 (not all can go to 100) and sell those that profit.
3) Once you've gained more money, being at 99/100 is less of an issue, and you can get away with any high 90's really as you'll be focusing more on long term than a short turnover for profit.

After having an issue with the game detecting my save as modified, I restarted, and hit about 100m on the first day using the above methods.

Danubian · Post by **Danubian** » Wed, 21. Dec 11, 17:08

Ok i dont mean to brag, but i think ive become a stock exchange expert today.

I started a new game 2 hours ago as "humble merchant" or whatever, i brought both ships to Telady system where their stock exchange is - Seizewell, i parked both ships in shipyard (same system), sold the mercury for about 170ish thousand, bought 2 or 3 trading systems (so i can access stock exchange from outside the actual platform), and i started trading with about 160ish thousand.

2 hours later, i had ~10.000.000 cash on my "account", about 15.000.000 cash invested in stock exchange, and then i left for the dentist. Took about 1 hour, when i came back i sold most of the shares, and now, 3 hours from starting a new game i have 40.000.000 in cash on my account, i can show you a screen shot.

If i wasnt doing other stuff (watching movies, going to dentist) i could easily have made 60-80 mil in 3 hours with almost no effort, its so easy, it almost feels like cheating.

If you wanna do it yourself, heres what you have to remember:

1.) you need at least 10.000 in cash to purchase "trade right" (or whatever) from Teladi.
2.) you need at least some money on top of that to actually start trading (~200k is idea, anything lower is possible, but mostly waste of time)
3.) forget local stock exchange (or whatever its called, the commodities), trade ONLY corporate/company indexes.
4.) 1st rule of Fat capitalism: buy cheap sell dirty expensive
5.) 2nd rule of Fat capitalism: green = good time to buy stock, yellow (anything other) = no so good.
6.) final advice: find an index which is set to 100. Each company's shares have 2 pre-defined values, one is lowest price of its shares (at index 100) second is highest possible price per share (at index 0 i assume). Find one which is at 100 and buy shares for all your money. Park somewhere far away from stations and turn SETA to X10 and wait. Over time share value will fluctuate. In this case - when you have invested money already - green is bad (no income) red is good (income). For every point your index drops bellow 100, proportionally, share's price will move up from minimum towards maximum possible value. You earn money from this change. So, if i bought a share at index 100 for 33, and then index drops to, say, 80, i will be able to sell it for (example) 50, which means i earned ~17 credits per share - whatever Telady broker's free and/or any other modifiers.

pocoyo · Post by **pocoyo** » Wed, 21. Dec 11, 20:22

dont invest in dukes put 6 mil on those and it didnt go up or down in several game days

KiwiNZ · Post by **KiwiNZ** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 00:03

Don't SETA like mad because in the end you will have a lot of money but can't spend it because the races won't sell it to you due to low notoriety. Use the time while your money works for you to run missions!

Neferdias · Post by **Neferdias** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 00:16

@pocoyo go blow up their headquarters... you will find yourself in over your head in cash...

Ripskar · Post by **Ripskar** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 00:57

Early trades;
Buy Naturals when the index is 100+
Sell when the index is below 90ish, if it's below 80 SELL NOW!

Company Trades;
To start up you'll need a lot of cash to invest, (10,000+ Cr.)
I'd spread these out a bit bit more as they don't move that quickly, but there is potential to make serious gains.
They won't appear in the list of shares from the side menu but when they move you get a message on the bottom of the screen.

I'm not into manipulation, given how much cash is coming in I can't see the point.

Ripskar · Post by **Ripskar** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 15:06

Some sources claim that the Naturals market is random.
I suspect this isn't the case, it is stated somewhere that it's based on ships docking in the region covered by the SX.
This might explain why Seizewell, covering 13 sectors with lots of traffic has a Naturals market that is almost permanently yellow, whilst Ministry of Finance covering only 2 sectors, has a Naturals market that is permanently red.

Haine · Post by **Haine** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 17:06

The Stock Exchange is incredibly rewarding.

I started with the Humble Merchant, decided I was going to try and play both sides of the war with it.

I ended up only getting to Seizewall with 40k in creds after selling my Mercury.

A couple hours later, I'm floating in 20m

What's the price of an average M7M I'm thinking about capping me a capital ship. dohoho.

Also, is it an intended game mechanic to not be able to sell back Terran vessels?

Roobarb2005 · Post by **Roobarb2005** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 17:16

I too started as a Humble Merchant. After about 3 or 4 hours real time, I'm sitting pretty at 30m. Not so humble after all

VincentTH · Post by **VincentTH** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 19:55

I want to have the option to "Short Sale" in the AP stock exchange. Very easy: Short Duke stock, then go nuke their HQ. Easy money!!!

Ripskar · Post by **Ripskar** » Thu, 22. Dec 11, 22:12

Right, after watching the markets I have access to and some map work:

SX | No. sectors | Bull/Bear/Buffalo

Seizewell | 13 | Bull
PTNI | 9 | Bull
Grand Exchange | 6 | Buffalo
Ministry of Finance | 2 | Bear
Family Pride | 14 | Bull
Family Njy | 5(8?) | Buffalo
Family Rhy | 6 | Buffalo
Patriarch's Conclusion | 3 | Bear
Kingdom End | 6 | Buffalo
Great Reef | 8 | Bull
Queen's Retribution | 6 | Buffalo
Ocean of Fantasy | 5 | Buffalo
Lucky Planets | 5 | Buffalo

I've sold up and am currently avoiding the Bear markets, ate a 150,000 Cr. loss in the process.
I'm now trading aggressively in the Bull markets which is bringing in far more credits than previously.

Master of the Blade · Post by **Master of the Blade** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 04:14

I have a feeling I'm going to have to take a 7MCr loss on the chin here. Bought 400, 000 shares in a company, which had been floating around the 70-90 index for a while when it was at a high of 90. Damn thing promptly rockets up to 100 and sits there with its tongue out, a nasty red -7,000,000 next to it. Never, every buying shares in anything below index 99 again. Ever.

Catra · Post by **Catra** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 04:16

nuke the company HQ =P

gandy|UKCS| · Post by **gandy|UKCS|** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 08:19

Ive made a nice and cool 320 million credits

That should be enough to buy a ship and kit it out with some pretty weapons

When you make your first 100 million, invest it in the company shares.. buy at 97 to 100 and sell between 80 and 60 or when you have a million credits profit if the company does not have a lot of shares for sale

Master of the Blade · Post by **Master of the Blade** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 13:58

Catra wrote:nuke the company HQ =P

It's one of the random companies, not a corporation. If it WAS a corporation with a tangible HQ, rest assured I would thoroughly nuke it. To hell with rep, this is MY money!

klingens · Post by **klingens** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 15:09

After the last few years, we all know stock exchanges are funny places and common sense does not necessarily apply. However, how do you make profitsss when you buy at 100 and sell at 90?

someone without stock exchange access obivously.

Master of the Blade · Post by **Master of the Blade** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 16:30

These values are just 'indexes' for how good/bad a stock is to buy at the time. 100 is minimum price, so good to buy, 0 is maximum price, good to sell. Individual stock values vary.

Ripskar · Post by **Ripskar** » Fri, 23. Dec 11, 19:07

Index value is the inverse % of price range.
ie, a company with a range of 50 to 150 has an index value of 100 when its share price is 50 Cr. but 0 index value when its share price is 150.

So buy at 100 = 50 Cr. per share.
Sell at 90 = 60 Cr. per share.